Right call, wrong result for Cubs

Baseball is a second-guesser's delight, and Sunday's 5-3 Cubs loss to the Milwaukee Brewers had them out in full force.

Situation: Brewers had runners at second and third with two outs in the eighth after the Cubs had gotten a big double play. Cubs manager Joe Maddon intentionally walked left-handed hitting Adam Lind with right-hander Pedro Strop on the mound. That loaded the bases for the right-handed hitting Aramis Ramirez.

The former Cub came up and dunked a 2-run single to left field, and that proved to be the winning hit. When Ramirez was with the Cubs, he liked to say he got paid to drive in runs and that he lived for those situations.

Maddon defended his move.

"It's a much better matchup," he said of Strop vs. Ramirez. "It's just one of those things under the category of right thing to do, but it didn't work. So that doesn't mean it was wrong. It just didn't work out at that time. I'll take Stropie in that matchup."

Ramirez said he understood what the Cubs were doing.

"It's the right move," he said. "Lind has been hitting (the ball) hard all year. The guy's hitting over .300 and I'm hitting .200."

The Cubs dropped two of three in this Wrigley Field series to fall to 13-10 for the season with a big four-game series coming up this week in St. Louis.

Starting pitcher Jason Hammel gave up single runs in each of the second, third and fourth innings, including a homer by Ramirez in the second.

"A little off today," Hammel said. "I cracked my nail. I'm trying to avoid a blister. Today was a battle. Just grind it out. Just try and keep it close. We were able to do that for the most part. I've got to set a better tone early."

Hammel said the Cubs are looking forward to playing the division-leading Cardinals.

"It's a good test," he said. "We've got to win these games. To be the best, you've got to beat the best. We're going into their territory now. We'll find out what we're made of in this series."

Very scary moment:

Pedro Strop hit the Brewers' Jean Segura on the front part of Segura's batting helmet in the eighth inning. As Segura lay on the ground, players from both teams looked shaken.

Segura eventually got up and walked to first base. But a few moments later, he took himself out of the game. The Brewers said he was experiencing nausea. They were sending him to a Chicago hospital for more tests.

"Yeah, that was really scary," Strop said. "I heard he's doing all right. It was really scary."

Strop stayed in the game to pitch and said he took some deep breaths to be able to get back on the mound.

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said he hoped Segura could get to Milwaukee on Sunday night.

"That's two in the helmet," Roenicke said. "It's not a good thing. You hope a guy doesn't get a little tentative in what he's doing. He does such a nice job with the things we ask that you hope it doesn't start to bother him."

This and that:

Cubs players, manager Joe Maddon and the coaches donned red Blackhawks sweaters after the game in support of the Hawks in the playoffs. … The Cubs have scored a total of 6 runs in their last four games. … Catcher Miguel Montero extended a hitting streak to five games. He's 9-for-19 in the streak.