Thames, Braun power Brewers past Cubs

Eric Thames hits a solo home run to left-center to give the Brewers a 4-3 lead and tie a club record with a homer in five straight games"They punctured it," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said of the Brewers' homers into a northerly wind. "That 'oppo' backdoor slider to Thames on a line into the wind -- you don't see that. That's really powerful stuff. We just made too many mistakes to [Braun]. Those two guys were pretty much their offense and that's the game."

Ryan Braun sends a deep fly ball into the left-field stands for a two-run home run, giving the Brewers a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1stThames doubled in the first, homered in the third, grounded out in the fifth and singled in the eighth,…