Joe Nathan provides spark, Anthony Rizzo the muscle as Cubs take another series

8:54 PM ET

MILWAUKEE — The Chicago Cubs aren’t exactly rolling, but the series wins keep piling up and they remain securely on their first-place perch.

That happy tale looked grim for much of Sunday’s 6-5 victory in Milwaukee. Jon Lester suffered through his third lackluster outing in his past four starts. The offense managed just one unearned run through six innings and at that point, the hitters had managed just three runs altogether in its past 22 innings against the Brewers.

Then two key sequences changed everything.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Cubs trailed 4-1 and veteran Joe Nathan came on to pitch to make his Cubs debut. He had not pitched in a big-league game in more than 15 months. At first, the rust showed. He gave up a sharp triple to Jonathan Villar, and walked Hernan Perez.

“Too many nerves, but that’s a good thing for me,” Nathan said. “When the nerves go away, it’s probably time to hang it up. The nerves were full tilt. It felt like Opening Day to me today.”

Up stepped dangerous Ryan Braun and Nathan fell behind 2-0, which sent pitching coach Chris Bosio trotting out to the mound for a chat. The pep talk worked, as Nathan morphed into the guy with 377 career saves, striking out Braun, Jonathan Lucroy and Chris Carter in succession.

“That was a [difficult] moment for him,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “Double, second and third, and here comes Braun, Lucroy and Carter. He made good pitches to every one of them.”

Anthony Rizzo delivers a three-run double in the seventh …

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