Brewers 2, Cubs 4: Your second place Milwaukee Brewers

Win: Jacob Turner (5-8)
Loss: Jimmy Nelson (2-6)
Save: Hector Rondon (23)

HR: Khris Davis (21), Gerardo Parra (8), Welington Castillo (11), Luis Valbuena (16)

Boxscore

The Brewers are, technically, 0.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals following a loss to the Cubs Sunday afternoon. With the Cardinals leading the Pirates 5-4 at the time of this writing, it seems likely Milwaukee will be going into tomorrow a full game behind in the race for a division title.

It has been nearly five months, or over 21 weeks, or exactly 150 days since the Brewers had last been not in first place. On April 4, they were a game back. The next day, they jumped in a tie for the divisional lead. Since then, they haven't looked back.

But six game losing streaks will do this kind of thing. After a miserable west coast swing, the Brewers are right back to losing in the good old midwest.

Of course, the season isn't even close to over. A one game deficit is nothing and the Brewers are still an excellent ballclub. It just so happens that they are an excellent ballclub going through a bit of a rough patch. Even guys like Kyle Lohse haven't played well during this stint. But with Jonathan Broxton here to aid the bullpen and Matt Garza due back soon, the Brewers could just as easily jump back out to another multi-game lead as they could fall further back from the Cardinals.

If the Brewers are to reclaim first place anytime soon, they'll need their offense to get back on track first and foremost. They managed just two runs on seven hits today, with both runs coming via back-to-back home runs by Khris Davis and Gerardo Parra in the seventh.

Up to that point, the Brewers had been trailing 3-0. An early Welington Castillo RBI single gave the Cubs the lead while a two-run home run by Castillo in the fourth expanded it. After the seventh, the Brewers cut the lead to 3-2, but Luis Valbuena homered in the eighth for an insurance run.

Jimmy Nelson managed a quality start despite allowing nine hits and a walk while striking out four. The offense was led by Gerardo Parra, who had a pair of singles to go with his home run.

The Brewers get two more against the Cubs before moving on to a series against the Cardinals. They need to cure what ails them quick.