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Braun, Brewers rout Cubs

May 31, 2014 - 5:12 AM Milwaukee, WI (SportsNetwork.com) - Ryan Braun belted a two-run homer, his first at Miller Park in over a year, to spark Milwaukee's five-run first inning and the Brewers routed the Chicago Cubs, 11-5, in the opener of a three-game series on Friday.

Braun finished 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored, while Rickie Weeks collected three hits, two RBI and three runs scored for the Brewers, who have won three straight games.

Martin Maldonado and Jean Segura also supplied three hits apiece in support of starter Marco Estrada (5-2), who allowed three runs on six hits and four walks with five strikeouts over six innings to pick up the win.

Travis Wood (5-5) was shelled for seven runs on 10 hits in just 2 2/3 frames to absorb the loss.

"The hit everything I threw up there. It didn't matter what I threw. They got to me early," Wood said.

Nate Schierholtz went 2-for-4 with a solo homer for the Cubs, who have lost three straight games.

The Brewers pounced on Wood in the first, as Segura scorched a leadoff single that deflected off the Chicago southpaw before Braun launched an 0-1 fastball out to right-center field for his first longball at home since May 22, 2012.

After Jonathan Lucroy fanned, Carlos Gomez worked a walk and raced around to score on Khris Davis' double into the gap in right-center. Weeks followed with a single to center to plate Davis and scored two batters later on Maldonado's double to right to make it 5-0 Milwaukee.

Gomez capped a string of three straight singles with an RBI base hit to center in the second to make it 6-0, but the Cubs got a pair back in the third on Emilio Bonifacio's RBI single and Junior Lake's run-scoring groundout.

Weeks opened the home half with a double and scored two batters later on Maldonado's single to right before the Brewers tacked on four more in the fifth to blow the game open.

"A lot of times we've been scoring the first inning or the second inning and then we don't do much the rest of the game," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "I was really happy to see us turn it around."

Davis started the inning with a double and scored on Weeks' single to center to make it 8-2. Maldonado singled two batters later to leave runners on the corners for Estrada, who put down a perfect sacrifice bunt to score Weeks.

Segura and Braun followed with back-to-back RBI singles to push Milwaukee's lead to 11-2.

Schierholtz scorched a leadoff blast in the sixth before the Cubs put together a brief two-out rally in the ninth.

Lake and Luis Valbuena worked back-to-back two-out walks off Tyler Thornburg before Starlin Castro and pinch-hitter John Baker registered consecutive RBI singles to bring Chicago within 11-5.

However, Thornburg induced a fielder's choice groundout from Welington Castillo to close out the victory.

Game Notes

Braun moved into sole possession of fourth place on the Brewers' all-time RBI list and now has 707 career RBI ... Davis went 2-for-4 to extend his hit- streak to eight games ... Chicago's scoreless streak reached 22 innings before Bonifacio's RBI base hit in the third ... Castro has reached base safely in 14 straight games at Miller Park ... Milwaukee tied a franchise record with its ninth straight game with at least 10 hits, matching the mark set from July 23- Aug. 1, 1983 and again from July 29-Aug. 7, 2011. No Major League team has accomplished the feat since the Brewers last did it in 2011 ... Gomez went 1- for-3 to extend his hit-streak to 10 games.