The Chicago Cubs’ offense was very aggressive against Milwaukee Brewers’ starter Kyle Lohse, allowing him to pitch a complete-game shutout, only throwing 93 pitches. Lohse got the Cubs to swing at pitches early in the count, and make weak contact for outs all afternoon. He only gave up three hits, did not walk a batter, and struck-out 6 in his nine shutout innings of work as the Brewers defeated the Cubs 9-0.

Jeff Samardzija entered the game with a NL leading 1.68 ERA, but this was far and away his worst start of the season. Things were rocky for Samardzija right away as he allowed a single by Jean Segura to start his afternoon, and that was followed up by a two-run homerun off the bat of Ryan Braun. That homerun was Braun’s ninth of the season, and his second in the last three days. The former MVP is now hitting .327/.367/.595 on the year.

The Brewers tallied eight runs on Samardzija in his three innings of work this afternoon. This was the shortest start of Samardzija’s career, and his ERA came all the way up to 2.54.

2nd baseman Scooter Gennett was the other offensive star on the day for the Brewers as he went 3-for-4 with two doubles, and a homerun off of Cubs’ reliever Justin Grimm in the 5th inning. That homerun would be the last run scored of the day, but it was much more than Loshe and the Brewers needed.

There was almost no offense to speak of on the Cubs’ side as Junior Lake, Nate Schierholtz, and relief pitcher Brian Schlitter each had one single a piece which accounted for all of the Cubs’ baserunners. Coming off of a two-homerun game from the night before, Cubs’ 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo was thrown out in the 4th inning after arguing a strike three call. Manager Rick Renteria had to force Rizzo out of the game as he continued to argue with home plate umpire Jerry Meals.

The lone bright spot for the Cubs this afternoon was the performance of their bullpen. Grimm, Schlitter, and James Russell combined for 5 innings, and Gennett’s HR off of the Grimm was the only base-runner that they allowed.

While the Brewers’ offense was impressive, the story of the day was the dominance of Lohse. He is now 7-1 with a 2.60 ERA, and 65 strikeouts to only 13 walks. Lohse has been great all season long, and is a big reason why the 34-23 Brewers are 4 games ahead in the NL Central.