Fight to the finish at Miller Park

MILWAUKEE - Most days, baseball isn't like football, with constant momentum shifts back and forth.

But Monday night's Cubs-Brewers game played out that way before a season-high crowd of 45,311 at Miller Park.

While the Cubs opted for some grind-it-out play, the Brewers went with the long bomb. The ball-control offense prevailed, and the Cubs managed to eke out a 6-4 victory in the opener of this four-game series and increase their lead over Milwaukee to 2 games in the NL Central.

Derrek Lee drove in his third run of the night with a double down the right field line in the top of the ninth to break a 4-4 tie, and Mark DeRosa added a run-scoring infield single later in the inning.

"The fans were into it, the players were into it - well played, a lot of clutch hitting, clutch pitching, good defensive plays," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, whose team improved to 62-44. "And from a fans standpoint, it was a playoff atmosphere, the way they responded to things that were happening on the field. Pretty good way to start a July series."

The night began as a battle of lefties, with newly acquired jewel CC Sabathia going for the Brewers against Ted Lilly.

Neither pitcher figured in the decision, as it was left to a couple of rickety bullpens to see which would hold up better under stress. The Cubs held, but just barely, as Bob Howry suffered a blown save by giving up Russell Branyan's pinch homer in the seventh that tied the game at 4-4.

But Chad Gaudin earned his second win in two days, and Carlos Marmol notched his fifth save.

"Gaudin, he's been a trooper, won the last two ballgames," Piniella said. "He's thrown the ball really, really well. We're really spent, right-handed, in our bullpen."

The Cubs opened the scoring against Sabathia in the first, with Alfonso Soriano leading off with a double to left-center. Soriano appeared lucky to make it into second base safely, as he looked to be admiring his drive before coasting into second base.

Soriano stole third base with one out and scored on a single by Lee. In the third, Soriano started the inning again, this time with a home run to left-center, his 17th of the season and second in two days.

Lilly gave up back to back homers to J.J. Hardy and Ryan Braun in the sixth, as the Brewers went up 3-2.

The Cubs opened the seventh with singles by Ronny Cedeno and pinch hitter Kosuke Fukudome. After Soriano struck out, Reed Johnson walked, setting the stage for Lee.

When Lee bounced the ball to shortstop Hardy, it looked like a sure double play. But Johnson went in hard at second, forcing Rickie Weeks to throw the ball away and allow 2 runs to score.

"In that situation, the first baseman's not holding me on, so you want to try to get as big (a lead) as you can," Johnson said. "When I'm in that situation, I always tell myself to follow the ball and slide, so if the ball's hit to the left, you slide to the left side of the bag. If it's hit to the right, you slide to the right side. That way, you beat the middle infielder to a spot. I was able to get in there and get a good piece of him."

As Johnson picked up Lee, Lee picked up the team in the ninth.

"That's what we've been doing all year," Johnson said. "That's been one of those things where all 25 guys have contributed. That's what you see good teams do and see playoff teams do."