Cubs 7, Brewers 2: The frustration continues after late-innings meltdown

The Milwaukee Brewers' frustrations against the Chicago Cubs continue.

After giving up the lead with Josh Hader on the mound in the eighth inning, the Brewers had no answer for their rival in extras on Monday night.

Anthony Rizzo blasted the first pitch of the 11th inning off Matt Albers out to right, and the Cubs tacked on four more runs from there in handing the Brewers an odious 7-2 loss in front of an animated crowd of 37,578 at Miller Park.

It was the seventh straight setback against Chicago this season for Milwaukee, which also dropped out of first place in the National League Central for the first time since May 17.

BOX SCORE:Cubs 7, Brewers 2 (11 innings)

NOTES:With his thumb healed, Eric Thames happy to be back with Brewers

BREWERS PODCAST:The Cubs are in town and Ji-Man Choi is traded to Rays

MLB:Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, statistics

Holding onto a slim 2-1 lead and with Hader in the game, the Brewers appeared to be in the driver's seat heading to the eighth.

The inning began with Hader walking pinch-hitter Ben Zobrist, who should have been an easy out one batter later after tagging and going to second base on Albert Almora's fly ball to center.

Lorenzo Cain fired a perfect strike to a waiting Jonathan Villar, but Villar dropped the ball. That gaffe proved huge as Jason Heyward followed with a single to right — just the second hit by a left-handed hitter in 37 at-bats against Hader this season — to plate Zobrist and tie the game.

The two teams exchanged scoreless ninth and 10th innings before Rizzo greeted Albers with a homer that put the Cubs ahead at 3-2.

But Chicago wasn't done adding on, scoring four more times in the 11th off Albers (3-2) and Boone Logan to put the game completely out of reach.

The Brewers ensured they wouldn't be shut out a sixth time by the Cubs this season and a third time by José Quintana thanks to the continued hot hitting of Eric Kratz, who homered to right-center to lead off the bottom of the third.

It was the third homer for Kratz, who was playing in just his sixth game for the Brewers since being acquired via trade from the New York Yankees on May 25.

The Cubs got that run back in the fifth after Javier Báez ripped a single off the glove of Jesús Aguilar, stole second and scored on a two-out single to left by Almora.

Milwaukee responded in the bottom half of the frame in the form of a Villar homer to left-center — his sixth of the season and third from the right side of the plate — that made it a 2-1 game.

Junior Guerra got some major help from his defense in his sixth and final inning.

After he opened by walking Kris Bryant, Rizzo hit a shot up the middle that Orlando Arcia speared and turned into a double play by firing over to first and doubling off Bryant.

That brought up Willson Contreras, who on the next pitch sent a high fly ball to left. Ryan Braun tracked it, leaped at the wall and came down making no indication he caught the ball, only to eventually produce it for the third out.

It was Braun's second standout defensive play of the night, as he also made a sliding catch to rob Rizzo of a hit in the fourth inning.

Guerra posted his sixth quality start in 12 outings by going six innings and allowing five hits, one earned run and two walks with four strikeouts.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

QUICK WORK: Guerra needed only four pitches to retire the Cubs in the first inning. Almora grounded out to second on his first pitch, Heyward singled to left on his third and Bryant grounded into a 5-4-3 double play on the fourth.

WORK IS NEEDED: The first all-star balloting update was released by Major League Baseball on Monday. And while the Brewers entered the week with the most wins in the National League, that fact apparently hasn't registered with fan voters as no Brewers player ranked in the top five at any position. Christian Yelich was the 11th-leading vote-getter in the outfield, while Cain was 15th.

YO-YO YEAR FOR WOODRUFF: To make room to activate first baseman Eric Thames, the Brewers optioned right-hander Brandon Woodruff to Class AAA Colorado Springs. It was the fourth time this year Woodruff has been optioned back to the minors. He was called up to start Sunday and pitched four one-hit innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter as the Brewers went for some runs in the 4-3 loss in Philadelphia. "That's OK," Woodruff said of the constant up-and-down. "I'm in a good place. I understand what's going on. I'll be ready for next time."

MOVING PIECES: In trading first baseman-outfielder Ji-Man Choi to Tampa Bay in exchange for infielder Brad Miller and cash considerations, the Brewers bolstered themselves up the middle — a spot where they've been vulnerable this season due to injury and inconsistency.

"That’s the purpose of the trade, is to trade from a place we just had a lot of depth and to add to a place we don’t have a lot of depth," Counsell said. "It’s going to challenge Brad a little bit to get back to playing second base and maybe a little bit of shortstop, which he has not done this year, but has done a lot of in the past. That’s going to be the challenge for him."

BEST OF LUCK: Counsell acknowledged the odd timing of trading Choi, considering he'd hit a game-turning grand slam the day before he was shipped out.

"He did his job with us," said Counsell. "Look, it always feels weird trading a guy who just hit a grand slam that helped us win a game. I understand that. It’s strange. But if you understand the depth picture, and I think it’s pretty easy to see, especially with Eric coming back here and the lack of DH games moving forward, it’s a better fit, probably for Ji-Man (with the Rays) than it is here."

RECORD

This year: 39-27.

Last year: 34-32

ATTENDANCE

Monday: 37,578

This year: 1,003,934 (33,465 avg.)

Last year: 863,966 (28,799 avg.)

COMING UP

Tuesday: Brewers vs. Cubs, 7:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Chase Anderson (4-5, 4.57) vs. Chicago RHP Tyler Chatwood (3-4, 3.86). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.