Brewers 3, Cubs 1: Mark Reynolds homered and Yovani Gallardo outdueled Jake Arrieta as visiting Milwaukee claimed the opener of a four-game series.

Gallardo (7-6) struck out six and did not issue a walk over seven innings, limiting the Cubs to one run and six hits, and Francisco Rodriguez struck out two in a scoreless ninth for his major league-best 36th save. Arrieta (6-4) was nearly as brilliant as Gallardo, going 7 1/3 innings and allowing two runs and five hits.

Khris Davis hit a tiebreaking RBI double and Scooter Gennett had two hits and an RBI for the Brewers, who lead the National League Central by 2 1/2 games over Pittsburgh. Starlin Castro had two of the Cubs' seven hits.

Reynolds drove his 20th homer into the bleachers in left to open the scoring with two outs in the second, and Gallardo made it stand up until Chris Coghlan's RBI double tied it in the fifth. Arrieta retired 13 straight following Reynolds' homer until giving up a leadoff single to Ryan Braun in the seventh and surrendering Davis' go-ahead RBI double with two outs in the inning.

The Brewers added an insurance run in the ninth when Aramis Ramirez ripped a two-out double into the left-field corner and scored on Gennett's RBI single. Castro legged out a one-out infield single in the ninth to get the tying run to the plate, but Luis Valbuena grounded into a fielder's choice and Arismendy Alcantara went down swinging to end the threat.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Reynolds recorded his seventh consecutive season with 20 or more home runs. … Cubs SS Castro went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. … Chicago batters struck out nine times and did not draw a walk, giving them 53 strikeouts and two walks on the homestand.