This was Brewers-Cubs, after all. Long games, lead changes and loopy plays are as common in this series as the sausage races at Miller Park and the organ music at Wrigley Field. Order was restored at Wrigley on Tuesday night in the Brewers' 8-5 win in front of 39,399 fans.
At least the kind of order common to Brewers-Cubs.
The Brewers, who have showed a maddening inability to execute sacrifice bunts this season, were a perfect 4-for-4 on Tuesday, and all four bunts led directly to runs. Cubs starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano hit a two-run home run on a rare mistake by Brewers rookie starter Zach Jackson and sparked the first of two Chicago comebacks. And a pair of costly Cubs errors in the ninth inning erased the second of those rallies and allowed the Brewers to score the tying and go-ahead runs in a stunning, four-run outburst that sucked the goodwill out of the previously-friendly confines.
"It will never get old," said veteran infielder Jeff Cirillo, whose pinch-hit single gave the Brewers a temporary, 4-3 lead in the seventh. "It's always something weird. It's always a see-saw battle.
"We've been in the same situation [as the Cubs]," Cirillo said. "We've been in losing streaks and bad things happen. We don't feel sorry for them, because we've been in the same situation."
When the dust settled and the boos ceased, the Brewers had assured at least a split of the four-game series and had pushed back to .500 at 39-39. The Cubs were left to mull their fifth straight loss overall and their ninth straight at Wrigley Field, the team's longest home losing streak in 12 years. The fans who paid to see it were just shaking their heads.
"I forget how it even started," Brewers manager Ned Yost said after it was over.
The ninth inning started with Cubs closer Ryan Dempster (1-4) trying to close out a 5-4 lead. Brewers third baseman Corey Koskie started the inning with a single that ricocheted off Dempster's backside and eluded third baseman Aramis Ramirez. Damian Miller followed with a walk, and that's where it got wild.
Gabe Gross followed with the Brewers' fourth sacrifice bunt of the game. Dempster tried for the out at third, but he threw the ball into foul territory, allowing Koskie to score and Miller to advance to third. Miller scored on another error when pinch-hitter Corey Hart's ground ball rolled through the legs of Cubs shortstop Ronny Cedeno, who was playing on the edge of the infield grass.
All of a sudden, the Brewers had regained the lead, 6-5.
"This is rock bottom," Dempster said. "I guess we hit it."
Rickie Weeks and Geoff Jenkins added sacrifice flies before the long inning was over. All four Brewers runs in the inning were unearned.
"I don't know if you call it luck or what," said Gross. "There's no doubt that that they made some miscues and we capitalized. There was the walk to Damian, and then they threw the ball away on my bunt. You can't let a team give you opportunities and not take advantage of them."
Brian Shouse (1-0), who surrendered the go-ahead Cubs run in the bottom of the eighth inning on Todd Walker's pinch-hit single, picked up the win. Brewers closer Derrick Turnbow worked the bottom of the ninth for his 22nd save.
Carlos Lee hit his 25th home run, a solo shot in the fourth inning, giving the Brewers five home runs in the first two games of the four-game series. Six of the team's eight runs Tuesday scored as the result of sacrifice bunts or sacrifice flies. The Brewers entered the game tied for 12th in the 16-team National League with 24 sacrifice bunts but executed four of them on Tuesday -- All by Jackson and Gross -- and cashed in each time.
"If this team is to fulfill the dreams that we all have about this season, and that's taking it all the way," Gross said, "there are going to be some big games and some big moments where we're going to have to play small ball to win."
Gross made a second straight start over regular center fielder Brady Clark and was in the middle of the action all night. He walked and scored in the third inning -- despite Cubs manager Dusty Baker's argument that Gross left the baseline avoiding a rundown between second and third base -- and singled and scored in the fifth. Both times, Gross moved into scoring position on sacrifice bunts by Jackson.
Gross also dropped two bunts of his own, first in the seventh inning to position Cirillo for a pinch-hit, go-ahead single. Gross was credited with another in the ninth on the bunt that Dempster threw away.
"We manufactured runs when we needed to, and we're happy about that," Yost said. "We played good defense all night long. We took advantage of opportunities when they were presented to us, so I'm pleased about that."
The game nearly swung in the Cubs' favor. After Cirillo's pinch-hit single put the Brewers ahead in the seventh, the Cubs stormed back in the eighth and took their first lead of the night. Ramirez led off against Jose Capellan with a solo home run, and Walker delivered a go-ahead single off Shouse that skipped past third base, where Koskie was playing Walker to pull the ball.
Usually, Yost would have sent change-up specialist Matt Wise out to preserve a one-run lead in the eighth inning. Instead he stuck with Capellan, and told reporters after the game that Wise was unavailable.
"He had a battle with salad tongs in Kansas City, and he got a little cut on his middle finger," Yost said. "We were trying to stay away from him tonight."
Wise confirmed the incident joking, "At least it was someone in my own weight class."
Luckily for Wise, the Cubs' defense bailed the Brewers out.