After a rough weekend at the plate, Ryan Braun and his teammates will certainly want to savor Monday night’s offensive outburst.Prince Fielder drove in five runs and had five of Milwaukee’s season-high 26 hits and Yovani Gallardo tied a season-high with 12 strikeouts as the Brewers pounded the embarressing,pitiful,disgraceful Cubs 18-1. Braun also had five hits for Milwaukee, which snapped a five-game losing streak. Casey McGhee had a three-run homer and Fielder had a three-run double.Corey Hart finished with four hits for the Brewers.The Cubs tied a franchise record for hits allowed, matching Sept. 2, 1957, when they lost to the Milwaukee Braves.Gallardo (10-5) allowed one run and two hits over six innings.The Cubs have lost a season-high six straight, several of them in embarrassing fashion. On Friday night, the Cubs lost 17-2 to Colorado, which was highlighted by a 12-run eighth inning when the Rockies brought 18 batters to the plate.The Cubs dropped to a season-low 14 games under .500 (46-60).During the six-game skid, the Cubs have been outscored 62-17.The Brewers scored five runs and had seven hits off Cubs starter Randy Wells (5-9) in the fourth inning.After scoring two runs in a three-game series against Houston, the Brewers broke out against an overmatched pitching staff.On Monday night, the Brewers batted around against the Cubs in consecutive innings. They brought 10 batters to the plate in the fourth and fifth innings.Alcides Escobar had three hits and McGhee had four RBI for Milwaukee.The only hits against Gallardo were doubles by rookie Starlin Castro.The Cubs finished with four hits, all doubles.After pinch-running for Jim Edmonds in the sixth, Carlos Gomez was hit by a pitch in seventh, then was hit on the helmet by a fastball from Brian Schlitter in the eighth. Gomez hit the deck after getting hit in the eighth and a trainer tended to him before he walked to the dugout. Gomez did not return to the game and went to the hospital after the game for a CT Scan.
NOTES—Before the game, the Brewers agreed to a $26.5 million, three-year contract extension through 2013 with Hart, rewarding the outfielder for a turnaround season that included a trip to the All-Star game….The Cubs placed Carlos Silva on the DL for cardiac evaluation. In place of Silva, the Cubs purchased the contract of RHPs Thomas Diamond and Casey Coleman from Triple-A Iowa. Diamond is scheduled to start Tuesday against the Brewers and Coleman will work out of the bullpen.