For 5 innings, Carlos Zambrano & Ben Sheets were engaged in a fantastic pitching duel that most of us expected to see.

However, most of us didn’t expect for the Cubs’ offense to bat around in the 6th while roughing up Sheets for 5 runs.

That’s exactly what happened on Tuesday evening from Miller Park, as the Chicago Cubs used a five-run 6th inning to break the game open & cruised to an easy 7-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Tuesday’s win now gives the Cubs a 3-game lead in the NL Central & also ensures that Chicago will leave Milwaukee in 1st place after Thursday afternoon’s finale.

Both teams had multiple chances to score early, beginning with the Cubs in the top of the 1st inning after Ryan Theriot hit a 1-out single against Brewers starter Ben Sheets.

2 batters later, Theriot was able to steal 2nd & eventually advance to 3rd base on Jason Kendall’s throwing error during Aramis Ramirez’s at-bat.

Ramirez ended the scoring threat with a pop out to Kendall at catcher.

Milwaukee then had a chance to score in the bottom of the 2nd inning after Prince Fielder drew a lead-off walk from Chicago starter Carlos Zambrano.

Corey Hart then followed with a single to put runners on 1st & 2nd with nobody out.

Zambrano then answered by striking out both Russell Branyan & Mike Cameron before getting Jason Kendall to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the scoring threat.

Chicago then had another chance to score first in the top of the 3rd inning after Alfonso Soriano hit a 1-out single off Sheets & stole 2nd base during Ryan Theriot’s at-bat.

Theriot then grounded out to J.J. Hardy at shortstop, but advanced Soriano to 3rd base for Derrek Lee, who struck out to end the scoring threat.

The Cubs then took the lead for good in the top of the 4th inning after Aramis Ramirez hit a lead-off double against Sheets.

Ramirez then advanced to 3rd base on a wild pitch from Sheets during Kosuke Fukudome’s at-bat, who flied out to Ryan Braun in shallow left field for the 1st out.

Mark DeRosa then followed with a sac fly to Mike Cameron in centerfield, which scored Ramirez from 3rd base & gave Chicago a 1-0 lead.

The Cubs then struck for a huge 6th inning, which started with Derrek Lee’s lead-off single against Sheets.

Aramis Ramirez then followed with a double to put runners at 2nd & 3rd with nobody out for Kosuke Fukudome.

Fukudome then hit a sharp 2-run triple to left field that got past a diving Ryan Braun & allowed both Lee & Ramirez to score, giving Chicago a 3-0 lead.

For Fukudome, it’s just his 3rd major-league triple & the first since April 23rd at Colorado.

Mark DeRosa then followed with an RBI single, scoring Fukudome from 3rd base & giving the Cubs a 4-0 lead.

Mike Fontenot & Geovany Soto then hit back-to-back singles off Sheets to load the bases with nobody out for Carlos Zambrano.

Zambrano kept the hit parade going with an infield RBI single, scoring DeRosa from 3rd base & giving Chicago a 5-0 lead.

Alfonso Soriano then hit a sac fly to Mike Cameron in center field to score Fontenot from 3rd base & give the Cubs a 6-0 lead.

With Soriano’s flyout, that ended a streak of 7 consecutive Cub hits against Ben Sheets, which brought in 4 of the 5 runs & knocked Sheets out of the game.

Brewers reliever Carlos Villanueva then entered the game & retired both Ryan Theriot & Derrek Lee to end the inning.

The Cubs scored their 7th & final run of the game on Aramis Ramirez’s 9th inning RBI single, which was set up by a lead-off triple by Ryan Theriot against Brewers reliever Guillermo Mota.

Milwaukee scored their only run on Mike Cameron’s 9th inning RBI double, which came with 2 outs against Chicago reliever Jeff Samardzija.

Carlos Zambrano (12-4) gets the win for the Cubs after pitching 8 shutout innings & allowing only 5 hits while striking out 9 batters.

Ben Sheets (10-4) takes the loss for the Brewers after allowing a season-high 6 runs on 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings of work.

The Cubs will now try to extend their NL Central lead to 4 games & win their 4th straight game on Wednesday evening from Miller Park, as righthander Ryan Dempster (11-4, 2.99) will be opposed by Brewers lefty Manny Parra (9-3, 3.72).

Dempster is 5-2 in 12 night starts this season with a 2.64 ERA & is already 2-0 against Milwaukee in 2008, while the Cubs’ offense has provided Ryan with 25 runs of support during those 2 wins.

Parra is 5-1 in 11 home starts this season with a 3.15 ERA & will make just his 2nd career start against the Cubs on Wednesday.

His 1st start against Chicago wasn’t too memorable, as Parra gave up 3 runs on 3 hits in just 3 innings of work back on August 30th, 2007 during the Brewers’ 5-4 loss.

Milwaukee has lost each of Parra’s last 2 home starts, which came against fellow NL Central opponents Cincinnatti & Houston.

Signing off for now,