CHICAGO -- Jose Quintana had been stingy against the Brewers, holding them to five earned runs over seven starts. On Tuesday, the Cubs left-hander served up that many runs in the first three innings in a 7-0 loss to the Brewers at Wrigley Field in a game that neither manager Joe Maddon nor Benjamin Zobrist got to see the end of.
The Cubs didn't lose this game because Maddon and Zobrist were ejected. The offense has been scuffling and the hitters held a players-only meeting before Tuesday's game.

"For the most part, we do work great at-bats," Maddon said. "You can slice it, dice it. We just have to do better. We've been shut out often lately and came one pitch away from being shut out again [on Sunday]. We just have to get better offensively, we have to work better at-bats, we have to reorganize our strike zone, all that kind of stuff. The effort is good. We just have to get our offensive mojo back."
Maddon was tossed by home-plate umpire Phil Cuzzi in the bottom of the sixth after Zobrist argued a called third strike, and then Zobrist was ejected between innings before the Milwaukee ninth when he resumed the discussion.

"I think [Cuzzi] had had enough," said Zobrist, who was tossed for the first time in his career. "I just wanted to be able to say my piece. At the last point, he didn't want to hear anymore. He's got the gavel. He decided he was going to do what he wanted to do."
And what were the magic words?

"When you have a good quality at-bat as a hitter and you feel like it's taken away from you, you want some sort of answer -- or you want to be assured that they'll make an adjustment, and that's what I asked for," Zobrist said. "He didn't want to talk about that. He didn't want me to tell him that. I just basically said, 'That's why we want an electronic strike zone.' That's what obviously got me tossed."
The Brewers jumped on Quintana quickly. Lorenzo Cain launched the lefty's second pitch of the game into the bleachers for a leadoff homer and Ryan Braun smacked a pair of two-run blasts, both off curveballs, to lead Milwaukee, which pulled within two games of Chicago in the National League Central.
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"He's thoroughly dominated us every time he's pitched against us," Braun said of Quintana. "I think it was important to get off to a good start. 'Lo Cain' set the tone, getting a couple of runs off him early, because he's had so much success against us."

Quintana's game plan was to throw the curve in those situations. The problem was that they were in the middle of the strike zone.
"I think it was a good choice, but the curve was too much in the middle," Quintana said. "The location was off."
Said Braun: "Everything he's thrown me, he's had success with. I've hit a few balls hard. I remember Jason Heyward robbing me of a homer and a couple other hits, but everything he's showed me had worked for him. I think everything he's shown all of us worked. We hadn't had any success against him up to this point."

Quintana scattered six hits over five innings before he was pulled.
"I feel bad about this game," Quintana said. "This was a big game coming in. I'm upset I wasn't able to execute today."
Jhoulys Chacin kept the Cubs off balance, limiting them to three hits, all doubles, over seven innings.
"He threw strikes, we had weak contact and you tip your hat," Anthony Rizzo said. "It was a good day to hit, and we didn't take advantage."
Despite the loss, the Cubs are 8-4 this season against the Brewers, who won for just the fifth time in their last 12 games.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Baez breaks snaps out of slump:Javier Baez, whose name has been mentioned as an MVP candidate, was 0-for-18 before he doubled to lead off the Cubs sixth. He had a stretch earlier this season in which he went 0-for-18 with a sacrifice fly and followed that by batting .366 in his next 50 games.

MADDON, ZOBRIST SHOWN EARLY EXITS
For the second time in the last four games and third time this season, Maddon was ejected. Zobrist was called out on strikes by Cuzzi with a runner on second in the sixth inning. Zobrist argued the call and Maddon ran out to defend his player. On Friday, he was tossed after disagreeing with an interference call involving Willson Contreras. Zobrist was on-deck in the eighth and resumed his conversation with Cuzzi between innings, which led to his ejection.
"The thing that hitters will tell you, and it's a great line: 'When a pitch is never a strike, it's never a strike,'" Maddon said. "There's times when a pitch begins as a strike and becomes a ball and is called a strike, that's more palatable. But when a pitch is never a strike and is called one, that's when the hitter becomes upset and that's the best way I can describe it."
Zobrist says he's been more riled up in a game, but this was his first ejection.
"I thought they were obviously balls and then I was animated because I knew it was a ball and was called out on it. I was told, basically, 'Be quiet,'" Zobrist said of his discussion in the sixth. "Then I was threatened that I was going to get kicked out of the game, and I walked away. Before my last at-bat, I wanted to let him know calmly what I thought and see if he would take the criticism well or not. We had a discussion and it didn't go that great and, you know, he kicked me out of the game. I was already coming out of the game anyways."

SOUND SMART
The Brewers have won three straight games -- all shutouts -- against the Cubs after opening the season 1-8 against them.
HE SAID IT
"I don't like switches. I don't even like dimming switches. I just want the switch on. You could make the point that we've played maybe less against teams that have not been ranked in the polls as well as we have. That really gets in the way sometimes. I think that's just a human-nature situation. The thing I want us to avoid is that mental roller coaster. I want us to play the same game every day. Granted, it has not happened, but that's the goal. I really want to avoid, 'Listen, this is a big series now, let's turn that dial up a bit.' You are absolutely setting yourself up for failure. ... Let's stay in our strike zone, let's utilize the whole field, let's play catch on defense, let's execute our game plan. That should be the same way every day. I'm so anti turning it up a notch -- especially in our industry, with so many games being played. I know I didn't walk in any differently today and I know the guys didn't either." -- Maddon
UP NEXT
Kyle Hendricks (8-9, 4.02 ERA) will close the brief two-game series against the Brewers. Hendricks did not get a decision in his last start against the Nationals but he did record his team-leading 11th quality start. He's done well at Wrigley Field, posting a 3.69 ERA in 13 outings there. He has not walked a batter in three straight starts for the first time in his career. Milwaukee will counter with Junior Guerra (6-7, 3.40 ERA). First pitch was scheduled for 1:20 p.m. CT from Wrigley Field.