Ryan Braun, left, played in three games after coming off the disabled list but did not play Friday as Ron Roenicke decided to give him a day off. Credit: Reuters

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Chicago — Caution continues to be the buzzword with regard to Ryan Braun.

The Milwaukee Brewers' rightfielder was out of the lineup Friday as the team opened a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Brewers were also without centerfielder Carlos Gomez, who was serving the last day of his three-game suspension.

As it turned out, Braun's absence was precautionary only and had nothing to do with the 38-degree temperature or slick grass caused by the morning-long rain that soaked the area.

Braun was reinstated from the 15-day disabled list Tuesday in advance of the Brewers' three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Miller Park. Braun had been out since April 27 after straining his right oblique.

"I was hoping he could play the three games at home," said manager Ron Roenicke. "The last two were important because of the left-handed pitchers. So that's why we took him out early that first game, to make sure he could play those next two.

"Then I didn't know — do I give him today, do I give him tomorrow? We just thought that coming off the three that today would be a good day to do it."

Braun went 3 for 10 with three singles and a walk against the Pirates, and most important had no further issues with his side.

"I thought his swings yesterday went well. Squared up a couple balls," Roenicke said. "I think he's feeling pretty good."

Elian Herrera started in right field against the Cubs and doubled twice and scored a run in a 4-3 victory.

Gomez, meanwhile, said he was doing better after a recent bout of back spasms sidelined him and ultimately led to him dropping his appeal of his three-game suspension.

"It's stiff today because there's no good bed at the hotel," Gomez said while riding a stationary bike in the tiny visiting clubhouse. "Today I feel better. But now that I'm warm it's good. I think I'm going to be playing tomorrow."

Gomez said he routinely sleeps on the floor in his hotel rooms on the road if the mattress is too soft for him. At home, in addition to being able to sleep on a firmer mattress, he uses a full-sized hyperbaric chamber he bought last year in order to help rejuvenate himself.

"It helps everything," he said. "You have a rough night and you're not sleeping good, you go in there and you sleep three, four hours and you feel like you're recovered completely. When I'm awake and feeling, like, slow, I go into the chamber and when I get out I'm (ready to go)."

Road warriors: In Roenicke's first three seasons at the helm, the Brewers have been a markedly better team at home than on the road.

So far this season, the opposite has been true. The team is 14-10 at Miller Park and 13-5 away from it, which represents the best road record in the National League. They didn't win their 13th road game last season until June 19.

Now, at the outset of a season-long 10-game trip that takes them to Chicago, Atlanta and Miami, can the Brewers maintain the confidence they've built playing in front of hostile crowds?

"I think it changes from year to year, as you know," Roenicke said. "Most of the time you guys are asking me why we're so bad on the road. I don't know why it is, but yes, it does make a difference.

"These guys know how well we've played on the road, and it makes a difference. And when we're playing really bad on the road, they also know that. I don't have answers as to why these things happen, because they do change from year to year. You can have the same personnel and it still changes."

Keeping his focus: Much was made of Matt Garza's first start against his former club, the Cubs, last month after he told a Chicago reporter in spring training that he was "going to try to kick their teeth in" every time he pitched against them.

Garza earned his first victory as a Brewer by beating the Cubs at Miller Park on April 25. But on Saturday he gets his first start against his former team at Wrigley Field, with the faithful sure to remind him of his comments every inning.

Garza admitted he has gotten a little too amped up heading into previous starts, so it will bear watching how his first few innings go in the ballpark he called home for the previous three seasons.

"I don't know," Roenicke said when asked if it would affect Garza. "I think he's got a lot of teams that he's played for that he's going to be emotional about. I think we're kind of through that. Pitching against them already helped.

"I think Matt is a guy that when he gets in that rhythm early, he's really good. And he hasn't been consistent getting into that rhythm early, and I think that certainly has affected his emotions out on the mound, that he hasn't gotten that confidence to where the first inning on he's lights-out."