Kyles 1, Brewers 0: Cubs snap Crew's streak

CHICAGO -- On a night dominated by starting pitching, Kyle Schwarber put his power on display once again.
Schwarber snapped a scoreless tie in the sixth inning with his seventh home run of the season and provided just enough offense for Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks in a 1-0 victory that snapped the Brewers' eight-game winning streak Thursday night.
Schwarber, who homered twice Tuesday night in the Cubs' 10-3 win over the Indians, lined a solo shot into the right-field bleachers off Brewers starter Chase Anderson.
One run was all Hendricks and the Cubs defense -- which got sparkling plays from Albert Almora Jr. in center and Javier Báez at second base -- needed.

"It was just a really tightly, well-played baseball game," manager Joe Maddon said.
Hendricks was brilliant over seven innings during which he allowed four hits and struck out five. Hendricks retired at least the first two hitters in each of his seven shutout innings, which kept his rhythm intact throughout the outing.

"That's a product of when my focus was, just make a good pitch," Hendricks said. "Every pitch, just on to the next pitch. I was just in a really good mindset today -- one pitch at a time."
Relievers Carl Edwards Jr. and Brandon Morrow preserved the win, pitching the eighth and ninth innings. Morrow earned his fifth save with a scoreless ninth.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
In a scoreless game in the sixth inning, Almora chased down a Lorenzo Cain fly ball to center field that appeared to be extra bases. Instead, Almora took a perfect route and made a leaping catch that kept the leadoff hitter from reaching with the heart of the Brewers lineup coming up.
"I see the ball hit and I'm just hoping to keep it to a double at that point," Hendricks said. "Then when he reaches his glove up and catches it up, it's an instant reaction. You're not expecting that at all."

SOUND SMART
According to Statcast™, prior to this week, Schwarber had never hit a home run with a launch angle below 22 degrees. His solo shot Thursday night came in at 19 degrees and one of his two home runs Tuesday against the Indians was at 18 degrees.
"[I'm] just trying to find the barrel more often," Schwarber said. "If I find the barrel, good things are going to happen. ... I'm just up there trying to find barrel every time."

HE SAID IT
"That was much more normal, I guess you could say. Mechanically at least ... it felt much more natural today and I wasn't forcing anything." -- Hendricks, on his seven scoreless innings
UP NEXT
Right-hander Yu Darvish remains in search of his first win since signing a $126 million contract in the offseason. Darvish (0-2, 6.86 ERA) has allowed at least four earned runs and hasn't gotten out of the fifth inning in three of his four starts. He will face Brent Suter (1-2, 5.68) in Friday's matinee, which begins at 1:20 CT.