 has thrown 24 straight scoreless innings against Milwaukee dating to July 28. The left-hander tossed six innings of three-hit ball in a 3-0 win at Miller Park on April 8.Tommy La Stella drove in two runs with a pinch-hit single in the seventh, and Javier Baez had a run-scoring double. Pedro Strop, Brian Duensing and Steve Cishek combined for the last six outs in Chicago's third straight victory.The Cubs improved to 6-1 against the Brewers this season, including four shutouts.)
Cubs aim for third win in a row over Brewers 4h ago• 2 min read CHICAGO -- As the Chicago Cubs have spent the first month of the season toiling around .500, manager Joe Maddon has remained patient with a starting rotation that until now has struggled with consistency.But after back-to-back impressive outings from Kyle Hendricks and Yu Darvish in consecutive victories over the Milwaukee Brewers, Maddon hopes his starters will continue to find their footing.Jose Quintana will look to give the Cubs a third straight win over the Brewers, who entered this weekend's four-game series having won eight straight games. After Hendricks and Darvish were instrumental in two one-run wins -- including Friday's 3-2 victory in which Darvish struck out eight and allowed just one run in six innings -- Quintana hopes to keep the Cubs rolling in the right direction.Quintana (2-1, 7.78 ERA) has given up at least four earned runs in three of his four starts this season but is coming off a seven-strikeout effort last weekend in Colorado when he allowed four runs and scattered eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.But if he can follow the lead of Darvish, who turned things around in his fifth start of the year Friday against the Brewers, Quintana could be the latest Cubs starter to turn things around. Quintana has been strong against the Brewers in five career starts in which he has registered a 3-1 record with a remarkable 0.75 ERA.If he can continue his mastery of Milwaukee on Saturday, it might be a sign that Maddon's faith in his starters has been warranted."I think we push each other," Hendricks said. "When we see the other guys start to get into rhythm in that routine, it seems to bring us all together almost. We kind of all get on that same rhythm."Hopefully, we can carry this team for a while." Meanwhile, the Brewers will look to get back to their winning ways. While each of their eight straight wins before Thursday's 2-1 loss came against losing teams, the Brewers have now dropped four of five games to the Cubs this season.And while Chicago seems to have Milwaukee's number this season, the Brewers will continue to rely on the solid pitching that has served them well in getting them off to such a strong start.Junior Guerra (2-0, .056 ERA) has certainly done his part in the three starts he has made. He has allowed only one earned run and has struck out 15 while limiting opponents to 10 hits.Guerra hopes to keep rolling Saturday against the Cubs, against whom he is 1-0 with a 1.89 ERA in six career appearances (three starts).So far in the series, Brewers pitchers have done their part but haven't gotten enough offensive support to add up to wins."We've pitched well," Brewers manager Craig Counsell told reporters Thursday, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "The numbers will tell you throughout the course of the season we've pitched well -- like we pitched well last year. I think it will continue."That's the foundation of this, that we pitch well and prevent runs. So continuing that puts us in a good spot for sure."
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