Cubs 5, Brewers 1

CHICAGO (AP) _ Jason Marquis allowed four hits in seven innings to win for the first time in almost two months, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 on Sunday. <br/><br/>The win was the

Sunday, July 1st 2007, 4:07 pm

By: News On 6

CHICAGO (AP) _ Jason Marquis allowed four hits in seven innings to win for the first time in almost two months, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 on Sunday.

The win was the eighth in nine games for the Cubs, who took two of three from the NL Central leaders and trail them by 6 1/2 games.

Chicago jumped ahead early after its season-high seven-game winning streak ended with a 13-4 defeat the previous day. Aramis Ramirez doubled in two runs in the first inning, and Derrek Lee and Mark DeRosa added RBI singles in the third as the Cubs took a 4-0 lead.

That was enough for Marquis (6-4), who won for the first time since beating Pittsburgh 1-0 on May 9. He allowed one run, struck out five and walked one after going 0-3 in his previous nine starts.

His lone mistake was Corey Hart's leadoff homer in the sixth.

Milwaukee's Dave Bush (6-7) lasted six innings, allowing four runs and six hits. He struck out five and walked two after winning his previous two starts and picking up a win in relief last week.

Ryan Theriot had three doubles and scored three runs, and Lee added three hits for a team that is struggling to gain ground on Milwaukee. Despite going 17-11 in June, the Cubs lost a game in the standings.

Theriot doubled down the right-field line with one out in the first and moved to third on Lee's single to shallow center. Ramirez drove them in with a double to right-center.

Theriot led off the third with another double _ this one to the left-field corner _ and came around on Lee's single to left, barely beating the throw home to make it 3-0. Brewers catcher Johnny Estrada argued briefly to no avail, and things took another turn for the worse for Milwaukee when Ramirez sent a pop fly into the swirling wind.

Third baseman Ryan Braun ran in and dropped the ball for an error, putting runners on first and third. Lee scored on Mark DeRosa's single, making it 4-0. Koyie Hill just missed a three-run homer when he flied to the right-field warning track with two outs.

Marquis retired nine of his first 10 batters and did not allow a hit until J.J. Hardy and Braun started the fourth with singles. Prince Fielder sent a fly to the warning track in center, but otherwise Marquis showed the form he had when he started 5-1.

Notes: Attendance for the series was 124,810 _ a record for a three-game series at Wrigley Field. ... The Cubs placed RHP Rocky Cherry on the 15-day disabled list with a strained muscle in his back, one day after recalling him from Triple-A Iowa. Chicago recalled RHP Billy Petrick. ... The Brewers activated LHP Chris Capuano (strained left groin) from the 15-day DL and traded right-handed reliever Jose Capellan to Detroit for minor league pitcher Chris Cody. Capuano is 5-5 with a 4.35 ERA in 13 starts. Capellan was 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in seven relief appearances for the Brewers.