Chicago Cubs' struggles on the road continue

MILWAUKEE - It's never too early, says Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein.

Both Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer made the trek to Miller Park on Friday as they took a break from trying to wheel and deal the Cubs into their fifth straight postseason appearance.

The Cubs kicked off the first of nine straight games against the National League Central rivals Milwaukee and St. Louis with a 3-2 loss to the Brewers. Ben Gamel hit a 2-run bases-loaded single off Pedro Strop in the bottom of the eighth to rally Milwaukee from a 2-1 deficit.

Strop has struggled mightily of late, but this wasn't all on him. The Cubs didn't get a hit off lefty Gio Gonzalez until the sixth and they wound up with 4 hits on the night, as did the Brewers.

"We have to do better offensively," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon, whose team fell 1 game behind the first-place Cardinals. "You just can't look at that in a vacuum. Strop, of course, did not have a great day. We have to do better offensively."

The Cubs are 19-30 on the road, and with two more at Miller Park and three at St. Louis coming up, this is a key stretch.

"They're big games," Epstein said. "You've only got a couple months left and you're in a tight race. Those games really matter. The team that plays the best against the division the rest of the way is probably going to be the team that wins the division.

"The games before the (trade) deadline seem to take on extra meaning, too, because you're trying to assess where you are, where the other teams are. Some teams are literally going to make the decision to buy or sell based on how they perform these last six games or so. We're not technically in that boat, but still it affects what's going on around us."

The Cubs made one deal and one internal move Friday, obtaining left-handed reliever Derek Holland from the San Francisco Giants and promoting outfielder-infielder Ian Happ from Class AAA Iowa.

Maddon took it from there, putting the switch-hitting Happ into left field. Maddon also put catcher Willson Contreras into the leadoff spot and had right-handed hitting David Bote at second base.

The Cubs didn't get their first hit until Albert Almora led off the sixth with a single. Bote followed with his 10th homer of the season and his first since June 19. The Cubs entered the night batting .239 against left-handed pitching compared with .258 against righties.

"One thing I would have thought for sure at the beginning of the year is that we would thrive against left-handed pitching and lefty starters," Epstein said. "I still think we project really well going forward against lefties. When you're at the point in the season where you haven't done it, you have to contemplate some tweaks."

Cubs starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks worked 5 scoreless innings, giving up 2 hits while throwing 90 pitches. He came out for a pinch hitter in the sixth, after Bote's homer.

"At the end of the day, it was the right decision," Hendricks said. "Just looking forward, coming off the (injured list), with everything that's happened, it just seemed like the right decision."