MILWAUKEE _ Chicago Cubs starter Jon Lester's mercurial season took a turn for the better Friday night at Miller Park.
Lester limited the Milwaukee Brewers to three hits while striking out Christian Yelich three times and finished with a season-high eight strikeouts in six innings. Unfortunately for Lester, Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff was even more dominant. He allowed only one hit while striking out 12 in seven innings.
The damage was minimal because the Cubs maintained their three-game lead in the National League Central following the 1-0 loss because the second-place St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Cincinnati Reds.
The Brewers won on Ryan Braun's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth. The rally started when Rowan Wick, starting his second inning, walked Yelich and gave up a single to Jedd Gyorko.
The Cubs employed a five-man infield with Javier Baez inserted on the left side, but Braun lifted a pitch from Jeremy Jeffress to right field deep enough to score Yelich.
Before the game, Cubs manager David Ross described Lester's start as "big" because of the his struggles and the Cubs trying to navigate through the end of a stretch of 14 games in 13 days without injured starters Tyler Chatwood and Jose Quintana.
But Lester pitched more like the veteran who limited opponents to seven hits in his first 17 innings instead of a wobbly left-hander who had an 0-2 record and 9.26 ERA in his last five starts.
Lester's cut fastball and change-up were extremely effective against the Brewers' right-handed hitters, and he fooled Yelich repeatedly on offspeed pitches.
Lester struck out Yelich with a runner on second to end the third, and he let out a big yell after striking out Keston Hiura on a change-up with a runner at third to end the fifth.
Craig Kimbrel stretched his scoreless streak to four outings after striking out two during a scoreless seventh.
The Cubs missed an opportunity with two outs in the eighth after Kris Bryant ripped a triple to right-center against Devin Williams, who had retired 31 consecutive batters.
But after falling behind 2-0, Williams came back to strike out Anthony Rizzo.
The Cubs, who were held to one hit through 7 1/3 innings by the Reds' Trevor Bauer on Wednesday, were held hitless until Ian Happ beat the shift with a single through the left side to open the sixth. Happ's hit snapped a 2-for-25 slump with 13 strikeouts.
Happ advanced to second on a fielder's choice but was stranded when Willson Contreras and Kyle Schwarber were retired in succession.
Baez, mired in an 0-for-9 slump with five strikeouts, didn't start. But it might not have mattered against Woodruff, who was dominant from the outset. Woodruff struck out Bryant three times and whiffed at least one Cub in each inning.
Before Happ's single, the Cubs' lone baserunners were Contreras in the second and Victor Caratini in the fifth after getting hit by pitches.
