Brewers 2, Cubs 1: Yovani Gallardo pitched seven strong innings and George Kottaras hit a two-run homer as visiting Milwaukee clinched a series win over Chicago.

Mat Gamel doubled and scored for the Brewers, who will go for a sweep of the four-game set on Thursday.

Ryan Dempster (0-1) cruised through the first six innings before surrendering a leadoff double to Gamel in the eighth. Dempster recovered to strike out Alex Gonzalez but left a 2-1 slider over the plate that Kottaras bashed into the right field seats for his second homer.

Gallardo (1-1), who was pounded for four home runs in his opening day assignment, was much stronger on Wednesday. The right-hander was charged with one run and five hits while walking two and striking out six.

The Cubs’ lone run came in the first, when David DeJesus led off with a double, moved up on a groundout and came in to score on Starlin Castro’s sacrifice fly.

Chicago got back-to-back singles leading off the seventh, but Gallardo struck out the next two batters and got Blake DeWitt to ground to third.

Francisco Rodriguez struck out the side in the eighth and John Axford did the same in the ninth for his second save.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Former Cub Aramis Ramirez went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts and is batting .091 (2-for-22) for his new team. … Chicago RH Kerry Wood, who had recorded a blown save and a loss in his first two appearances, struck out the side in a perfect frame on Wednesday. … Brewers Japanese OF Norichika Aoki got his first major league start in left field.