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Brewers beat Dempster, Cubs

Jul 27, 2011 - 4:06 AM Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Casey McGehee belted a two-run triple to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs in the opener of the three-game series.

Aramis Ramirez hit a two-run homer in the top of the first to give the Cubs an early lead, but the Brewers scored the winning runs a half-inning later on Ryan Braun's RBI double and McGehee's triple.

Chris Narveson (7-6) allowed two runs on eight hits over five-plus frames to earn the win, while John Axford left the tying run on second in the ninth to record his 28th save of the season.

Ryan Dempster (7-8) was the hard-luck loser, surrendering three runs on seven hits over six innings, as the Cubs failed to extend their win streak to a season-high four games. Dempster had previously won six straight over the Brewers.

Jeff Baker began the game with a single up the middle and Ramirez followed two batters later with a blast into the stands in left.

The Brewers answered immediately, as Corey Hart and Braun sandwiched a pair of doubles around a Nyjer Morgan strikeout to push one across. Prince Fielder followed with a single to place runners on the corners and, two batters later, McGehee gave Milwaukee the lead with a triple into the right-field corner.

"I had a chance to get out of the inning, but I left a pitch over the plate to McGehee and he hit it into the corner," said Dempster. "I certainly never thought it would be the end of the scoring for the game, but I just got outpitched."

Narveson stranded two in the fifth, but ran into trouble an inning later, as a Geovany Soto single, a Marlon Byrd double and a Carlos Pena walk loaded the bases with no outs.

Kameron Loe spelled Narveson and effectively shut the door, getting Alfonso Soriano to ground into a third-to-home force out and Barney to ground into a 5-4-3 double play.

"Loe was outstanding, getting two ground balls to get us out of a bases loaded situation," said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke.

Kosuke Fukudome reached on an infield single with two down in the ninth. He was replaced by the speedy Tony Campana, who promptly stole second. Axford put down pinch-hitter Blake DeWitt on a high fastball, however, to record his franchise-record 25th consecutive save.

Game Notes

The Brewers are 34-14 at home this season, as opposed to 21-35 on the road...The Cubs have not won four-straight since they took six in a row from September 13-19 of last season...Dempster was 11-1 in 15 previous starts against the Brewers.