Cubs shut down last unbeaten team

Carlos Zambrano allows only one hit in 71/3 innings to help Chicago beat Milwaukee 4-0.

CHICAGO - Carlos Zambrano shook off a cramp in his pitching arm then shut down the Brewers.

Zambrano pitched one-hit ball into the eighth and had two singles and an RBI to help the Cubs beat the Brewers, the majors' last unbeaten team, 4-0 on Saturday.

Zambrano gave up only a single in the second to Russell Branyan and shut down a lineup that scored 25 runs in its first three games. He struck out six and walked two.

After throwing one pitch to the second hitter of the game, Junior Spivey, Zambrano stepped off the mound, pointed to his pitching arm and signaled for the Cubs' trainer.

Zambrano was allowed three additional warmup tosses. He then struck out Spivey on the next three pitches and cruised before leaving for Chad Fox after walking Chad Moeller with one out in the eighth.

"It happens to me all the time," Zambrano said of the cramp. "I have to drink more water.

"It has nothing to do with my elbow or shoulder."

Cubs manager Dusty Baker, whose team ended a three-game losing streak, said the same thing happened to Zambrano last season.

"I'm just glad it was muscle and nothing else," Baker said. "He was throwing great from the beginning. He hit well. He ran well. He did everything well."

After Branyan's single, Zambrano retired 10 in a row before walking J.J. Hardy to start the sixth. Through the first seven innings, he retired Milwaukee in order five times.

"(Zambrano) was throwing that heavy slider 96-97 mph with an occasional breaking ball and even a couple of good changeups," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "He was dead on; shows you why he's one of the best pitchers in the National League."

Monday, Zambrano allowed three runs on seven hits in 42/3 innings and did not get a decision in Chicago's 16-6 win against Arizona.

"(Monday) I tried to be too perfect," Zambrano said. "(Saturday), I had good command of all my pitches and got ahead in the count."

Zambrano's two-out single in the second scored Jeromy Burnitz for a 1-0 lead. Burnitz's homer into the right-centerfield bleachers with one out in the sixth made it 2-0, and Todd Walker doubled off the base of the right-centerfield wall with one out in the seventh to drive in Zambrano and Corey Patterson.

[Last modified April 10, 2005, 00:40:18]