CHICAGO _ Maybe the Chicago Cubs should have risked playing in the rain after all.
It couldn't have been much worse than what they endured on Thursday afternoon, when the Milwaukee Brewers invaded Wrigley Field and pummeled their rivals into submission.
Powered by a seven-run outburst in which 13 batters came to the plate in the third inning, the Brewers went on to beat the Cubs, 11-2, in front of a disapproving crowd of 41,576.
The matchup, which was necessitated by the Cubs' dubious weather forecasting on May 20 during the Brewers' last visit to Chicago, wound up costing the teams an off day.
But it couldn't have been more lopsided, and all the early offense enabled starter Zach Davies to pitch on cruise control for a good portion of the day en route to his 10th win.
Now as a result of their blowout victory, the Brewers head to New York with a 48-40 record, putting them eight games over .500 for the first time since Sept. 2, 2014.
They also extended their lead in the National League Central to 4{ games over the second-place Cubs.
"Off days are precious. You never want to give those away and obviously the game that got rained out ended up being a beautiful day," said Ryan Braun, whose two-run home run in the third jump-started the game-clinching rally.
"Certainly, we would have liked to have played then but aside from that, every time you play against a team in your division _ we understand how good these guys are _ the significance of the game itself is always going to give us an edge.
"I don't think we needed any added motivation. We would have loved to have had the off day. But if you have to play on an off day, it's always nice to get the win."
Doing what they've done all season, the Brewers struck quickly with a pair of first-inning runs against Cubs left-hander Mike Montgomery (1-6).
Jonathan Villar drew a leadoff walk and Domingo Santana doubled him in to get Milwaukee on the board two batters in. Braun's grounder moved Santana up to third, then with two outs, Hernan Perez singled to center to make it 2-0.
The Brewers put the game completely out of reach with their big third.
After Villar led off by striking out, the next eight batters reached base against Montgomery and then left-hander Jack Leathersich, pitching in the major leagues for the first time since 2015.
Braun had the big blow, lifting a two-run homer just into the basket in straightaway center to make it 4-0. He became the sixth Brewers player to reach double-digit homers in the process, joining Eric Thames (23), Travis Shaw (18), Santana and Keon Broxton (14) and Perez (10).
Three straight singles followed, with Manny Pina's driving in Jesus Aguilar and knocking Montgomery from the game. Leathersich entered and immediately walked Broxton, Orlando Arcia and Davies as the score ballooned to 7-0.
A sacrifice fly to left by Villar upped the lead to 8-0, then Santana's second double of the day made it 9-0. Thirteen batters came to the plate, marking the 12th time this season the Brewers batted around in an inning.
"It was a day that everybody contributed offensively," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "When you do that, you get 11 runs. It's different guys every day. Our starters continue to do an excellent job and put us in position to win games.
"It's a good formula."
The Brewers are now averaging an even six runs per game when Davies starts.
Chicago's best chance to get back into the game actually came in the bottom of the third, when Davies surrendered a pair of singles to start and then hit Jon Jay to load the bases.
Kris Bryant followed with an RBI groundout to break up the shutout, but Davies bore down to get Anthony Rizzo to pop out and strike out Ian Happ and limit the damage to the lone run.
"The third inning, pitching was a big part," Counsell said. "They had bases loaded, nobody out, but us getting out of there with one run was big."
The Cubs tacked on their final run in the fourth on a Willson Contreras homer.
But the Brewers got that run back plus another in the fifth. A double steal and throwing error by Contreras allowed Villar to score to get Milwaukee into double digits at 10-2, then an Aguilar RBI single capped the day's scoring
Davies finished his day after six innings and 102 pitches, allowing five hits and two runs with three strikeouts. He also hit two batters. He lowered his ERA to 4.90, and he's now one victory shy of tying the career high he set last season.
"Personally, that's something that kind of makes you happy," Davies said of his victory total. "But you want to be playing in October. That's the biggest thing. That's the biggest goal of everybody in the clubhouse."
Cubs manager Joe Maddon waved the proverbial white flag by lifting Bryant and Rizzo in the top of the fifth, and even turned to the outfielder Jay to pitch the ninth. He responded with a scoreless inning that saw him fire a 46-mph changeup.
Santana led the Brewers' offense with a career-high four hits, a walk, three runs scored and two RBIs.
The Brewers have now won four straight and seven of eight heading into their interleague series with the Yankees.
"We're in a stretch right now that we're playing good baseball and it's all phases that have played well," Counsell said. "That's how you win seven of eight, those mini-streaks. We'll try to keep it going in New York."
