Not even once during his MVP-caliber season in 2005 did Derrek Lee have a game like this.

Lee’s 4th inning grand slam highlighted his career-high 7 runs batted in, which helped the Chicago Cubs outslug the Milwaukee Brewers 9-5 on Thursday evening from Wrigley Field.

With the win, the Cubs are now just 2.5 games out of 1st place.

Chicago erupted for a big 1st inning after Sam Fuld drew a lead-off walk from Milwaukee starter Seth McClung.

Ryan Theriot then singled to left field, which put runners on 1st & 2nd with nobody out for Derrek Lee.

Lee smoked the first pitch he saw from McClung onto Waveland for a 3-run homer (13th of season), which gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

2 batters later, Jake Fox nearly hit it out of Wrigley Field with a monstrous solo blast (3rd of season), which gave Chicago a 4-0 lead.

The Brewers then got their first rally of the game started in the 2nd after Prince Fielder hit a lead-off double against Cubs starter Ryan Dempster.

Casey McGeehee then grounded out to Ryan Theriot at shortstop & was unable to advance Fielder to 3rd base on the play.

Mike Cameron then cut Milwaukee’s deficit in half with a 2-run homer (13th of season) off Dempster, which made it a 4-2 game.

Chicago tried to add another run in the bottom of the 2nd after Sam Fuld hit a 2-out double down the right field line against McClung.

With 2 outs & Fuld on 2nd base, Ryan Theriot grounded out to Craig Counsell at 2nd to end the scoring chance.

The Brewers then posed another threat in the top of the 4th after Casey McGeehee & Mike Cameron hit back-to-back 1-out singles against Dempster.

Corey Hart then hit into a doubleplay to end the inning.

The Cubs added more runs in the bottom of the 4th after Geovany Soto hit a solo homer (8th of season) off McClung, which gave Chicago a 5-2 lead.

Mike Fontenot then singled, while Ryan Dempster laid down a sac bunt to advance Fontenot to 2nd with just 1 out.

Sam Fuld then reached 1st safely after Prince Fielder failed to make a throw to McClung, who was covering first base.

That forced Brewers manager Ken Macha to remove McClung from the game & go with righthander Chris Smith from the Milwaukee bullpen.

With runners on 1st & 3rd with just 1 out, Ryan Theriot then drew a walk to load the bases for Derrek Lee.

Lee then continued his huge evening with a grand slam (14th of season), which gave Chicago a 9-2 lead.

Milwaukee put a scoring chance together in the top of the 5th after Chris Smith & Craig Counsell drew back-to-back 1-out walks against Dempster.

J.J. Hardy then struck out before Ryan Braun hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

The Cubs then got yet another scoring chance going in the bottom of the 5th after Kosuke Fukudome hit a lead-off double against Smith.

Geovany Soto then struck out before Mike Fontenot grounded out to Prince Fielder at 1st base.

Soto was able to advance to 3rd on the play, which set up an RBI chance for Ryan Dempster.

Dempster then grounded out to Casey McGeehee at 3rd base to end the inning.

The Brewers added another run in the top of the 6th off Prince Fielder’s solo homer (21st of season) against Dempster, which made it a 9-3 game.

The Cubs had yet another scoring chance in the bottom of the 6th after Ryan Theriot hit a 1-out single off Smith.

2 batters later, Milton Bradley singled to put runners on 1st & 2nd with 1 outs for Jake Fox.

Fox then hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

Milwaukee had yet another chance in the 7th after pinch-hitter & former Cub Jody Gerut hit a 1-out single against Dempster.

Craig Counsell then reached 1st safely after Mike Fontenot failed to pick up his grounder cleanly at 2nd base.

That put runners on 1st & 2nd with just 1 out for J.J. Hardy, who struck out to leave it up to Ryan Braun.

Braun then hit a broken bat bloop RBI single to score Gerut from 2nd base & make it a 9-4 game.

That ended Dempster’s evening, as Cubs manager Lou Piniella went to his bullpen & called upon lefty Sean Marshall to face Prince Fielder.

Marshall won the battle, as he got Fielder to strike out which ended the inning.

The Brewers’ Mike Cameron continued his big evening with a 1-out 8th inning double off Cubs reliever Aaron Heilman.

Corey Hart then was hit by a pitch, which put runners on 1st & 2nd with just 1 out for Jason Kendall.

Kendall then hit an RBI single to score Cameron from 2nd base, which made it a 9-5 game.

Pinch-hitter Frank Catalanotto then came up & popped up to Mike Fontenot at 3rd base, which left it up to Craig Counsell.

Counsell then flied out to Kosuke Fukudome in centerfield to end the inning.

Carlos Marmol gave up a 2-out walk to Prince Fielder, but struck out Casey McGeehee looking to pull the Cubs just 2.5 games out of 1st place.

Ryan Dempster (5-5) gets the win for the Cubs after pitching 6 2/3 innings & allowed 4 runs (3 erarned) on 8 hits while tying a season-high with 9 strikeouts. (Dempster also struck out nine during his May 9th loss against Milwaukee)

Seth McClung (3-2) takes the loss for Milwaukee after allowing 7 runs on 7 hits in just 3 1/3 innings of work.

The Cubs will now try to inch closer to first place on Friday afternoon at 1:20 PM cst from Wrigley Field, as righthander Carlos Zambrano (4-3, 3.69) will go up against Brewers righthander Jeff Suppan (5-6, 4.86).

Zambrano has improved as the season has progressed, having just finished June with a 1-1 record in 5 starts with a 2.91 ERA.

Carlos has not lost in each of his last 4 starts against Milwaukee, which dates back to August 29th, 2007.

Suppan has only gone past the 6th inning in 1 start all season & is already 0-2 against the Cubs this season in 2 starts with a 7.45 ERA.

Before Thursday’s game, the Cubs acquired utilityman Jeff Baker from the Colorado Rockies, who will get minor-league pitcher Al Alberquerque in return.

Baker finished with a career-high 22 home runs, 68 runs batted in & 22 doubles last season for Colorado & has split time at 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base, & each of the corner outfield positions.

Ryan Freel was also designated for assignment, which ends his 14-game stint with the Cubs. Freel hit just .139 in 23 games this season with the Orioles & Cubs.

In other Cub news, reliever Neal Cotts underwent Tommy John surgery today in Chicago which will end his 2009 season. Cotts appeared in 19 games before his demotion to the minors on May 27th & finished 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA.

Signing off for now,

Matt T for Cubshub.com