CHICAGO -- New look, same old story.

CC Sabathia on the mound, a new manager and a restructured lineup weren't enough to shake the Brewers out of their two-week long slump. And because of that, they're no longer the hunted in the National League wild-card race.

The Brewers losing streak reached five games after they fell to the Cubs, 5-4, Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

In his first meeting with players as manager, Sveum stressed the importance of not letting the last two weeks impact the final 12 games of the season. After the game, he thought that the team played looser and seemed more relaxed.

"I saw a lot of good things tonight from the guys and the way the lineup rolled out," Sveum said. "I liked the way things went in the dugout as much as anything.

"There was definitely more life in the dugout."

Ned Yost's firing was supposed to light a spark in a team that has been unable to hit the ball since Labor Day, and while the Brewers showed momentary flashes, they still struck out 13 times and were just 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position. Tuesday's game marked the 13th time in 15 games that the team failed to score more than four runs, and the Brewers are now 3-12 in September.

Offensively, the Brewers ran into a buzz saw in Cubs' starter Ryan Dempster. Despite throwing 114 pitches through six innings, the right-hander won for the 16th time this seasons allowing just two runs on seven hits with nine strikeouts and walking one.

After allowing a two-out double to Prince Fielder in the first, he retired the next 11 batters he faced. The Brewers did manage to get runs off the Cubs bullpen in the eighth and ninth innings, but it wasn't enough to get off the schnied.

Sveum liked what he saw from the lineup, which had Mike Cameron leading off, Ray Durham second, J.J. Hardy fifth and Corey Hart sixth.

"I've got some confidence in our hitters. They showed some life tonight I saw good at bats from Ryan Braun who had some better swings. Prince had a heck of a night and almost finished it off at the end of the game."

Fielder was the lone offensive bright spot for Milwaukee. He belted a pair of home runs and doubled, extending his hitting streak to seven games. Fielder said that Tuesday's loss wasn't because of a lack of execution, but more so because the Cubs are a good team.

"We played good baseball," said Fielder. "If we do this for our last games, something good might happen."

He had a chance to tie the game or win it in the ninth, but with runners at the corners, Cubs closer Kerry Wood threw an 88-mph curve for a called strike three to end the game.

"There was some really good pitching thrown at us tonight out of that bullpen with Marmol and Wood and Howry," Sveum said.

Sabathia was tagged with his first loss of the season after allowing four runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and a home run in seven innings of work. A seventh-inning home run by Alfonso Soriano put the Cubs up, 5-3, and killed the Brewers momentum.

"If I make a good pitch there and get an out ... if we get out of the inning without giving up the run, Prince hits his home run in the eighth and we've got the momentum," Sabathia said.

"You can blame this loss on me."

Sveum didn't find much fault in Sabathia's performance, suggesting it was merely a couple of bad pitches that did the left-hander in. He had sent Brad Nelson to the on-deck circle to pinch-hit for Sabathia in the Brewers' half of the sixth, but Jason Kendall flew out to center and Sveum sent the Brewers' ace back out for another two innings.

The loss was Sabathia's first since June 5, when he was still pitching for the Cleveland Indians.

"He got comfortable and battled," Sveum said. "When it's your horse -- the best pitcher in baseball -- I left him out there and didn't pinch-hit for him. That's our horse and he's the best we got to shut them down."

Thanks to Philadelphia's late-inning rally at Atlanta and the Mets loss at Washington, the Brewers are now a half-game behind New York for the last NL playoff berth. If the season were to end today, they'd be on the outside looking in for the 27th consecutive season.

With the team now two games away from being eliminated from the divisional race and suddenly trailing in the playoff chase, Sveum stressed that all was not lost.

"We've been in that position for quite a long time and we lost it tonight. There's 11 games left to get it back," Sveum said. "We were in this position last year, too; we had to fight and claw right down to the last couple games of the year and it looks like it's going to happen again."