After a successful bullpen game on Monday, the Milwaukee Brewers planned to turn to Quinn Priester as a traditional starter as they went for a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday
evening in Chicago. But after Milwaukee lucked into an early lead, it was the Cubs who answered with a big bottom of the first inning and capitalized on a lack of early command from Priester. He didn’t last the first inning, and while the Brewer bullpen again performed admirably, Milwaukee couldn’t quite muster enough runs to erase their big early deficit.
Christian Yelich got things started with a bang by hitting a hard grounder right over the first base bag off of Chicago starter Jameson Taillon. Yelich’s hit banged off the wall down the right-field line and ended up as a leadoff double. Jackson Chourio was unable to advance the runner, but Brice Turang drew a five-pitch walk that put runners on first and second for William Contreras. What followed was hard to believe: Contreras hit a high pop-up, which disappeared in the afternoon sun, and it dropped in the infield. Turang would normally have been toast at second base, but both middle infielders were trying to find the ball, and no one was covering second.
Craig Counsell, wondering why the infield fly rule wasn’t invoked, was given the (correct) explanation that none of the infielders were tracking the ball. All three runners were safe, and the bases were loaded for Sal Frelick. Frelick got Milwaukee on the board in the first inning for the third straight game when he hit a fly ball to left which was deep enough to score Yelich from third. Caleb Durbin flew out, and the Cubs were fortunate to not have suffered further damage, but Milwaukee—for the first time in the series—had scored first.
But the Cubs have also scored in the first inning of each game of this series, and today it was their turn to answer an early deficit. Chicago’s first batter, Michael Busch, did what he did in game one: he hit a leadoff homer, this one on a 3-2 cutter that Priester left right down the middle. Nico Hoerner also got a two-strike hit when he smoked a single back up the middle, and a walk of Kyle Tucker prompted an early visit from pitching coach Chris Hook. Seiya Suzuki nearly broke the inning open with a fly ball into the right field corner but Frelick made a huge sliding catch for the first out; Hoerner advanced to third, but at least one run would’ve scored had the ball landed.
Priester was still struggling with command, though, and he walked Ian Happ on a 3-2 backdoor slider that just missed the outside edge. That loaded the bases for Carson Kelly, who narrowly missed extra bases on a liner down the right-field line that went just foul, but after a couple more foul balls Priester struck him out for the second out. There was now a route out of the inning, but that route needed to go through Pete Crow-Armstrong, who was hunting for a big moment. He delivered, and knocked a two-out, two-RBI single to right to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead.
That was the end of the line for Priester, as Pat Murphy summoned Nick Mears to mop up the mess. But with PCA stealing second and Contreras coming out of his crouch, the Brewer catcher was unable to handle a Mears fastball that was further outside than he was expecting. It went to the backstop, Happ scored from third, and PCA ended up at second. Mears still had Dansby Swanson to worry about, too, and he drew a walk after a long at-bat. That put two on for Matt Shaw, but he struck out to mercifully end the inning. Priester was a couple pitches away from getting out of the inning with the game tied, but it didn’t happen, and the Cubs took a 4-1 lead to the second inning.
Now the question was whether the Brewers, who’d answered early deficits in both games one and two, could do it again. That answer did not come in the second inning, as Taillon had a 1-2-3 inning despite a 13-pitch at-bat for Brandon Lockridge which ended in a strikeout.
The bottom of the second saw the 2025 postseason debut of Jose Quintana, who was making his first official appearance since September 14th. Quintana looked good: he had a 1-2-3 inning against the top of Chicago’s order, with an assist from Joey Ortiz, who made a nice sliding play for the third out. Taillon had another easy 1-2-3 inning in the third when he retired the top of the Brewers’ order with three consecutive groundouts.
Quintana’s second inning of work didn’t go as smoothly as the first: Suzuki led off with a double into the gap, and Happ followed with his second walk of the game. The first out of the inning came on a high pop-up in shallow right field, which in today’s windy conditions was a bit of an adventure, but Frelick secured it. Crow-Armstrong struck out after a check swing on a 1-2 pitch; PCA did not think he swung, and he may not have, but he was the second out. Quintana fell behind Swanson but got him to ground out on a 3-1 pitch, and the score remained 4-1 after three complete.
Frelick and Durbin hit back-to-back singles with one out in the top of the fourth. That set up Jake Bauers, and he worked to a full count before lining another single into center field which scored Frelick from second and got Durbin to third. That put Lockridge up in a big spot, and the Brewers tried a safety squeeze. It didn’t work, as Durbin was caught between third and home, but Durbin stayed alive long enough to get Lockridge and Bauers to second and third, respectively. With two outs, Ortiz had a chance with two runners in scoring position, but he grounded out to third. The Brewers got one back but left two on, and it was 4-2 heading to the bottom of the fourth.
Turang made a nice play on a grounder up the middle to get Shaw for the first out in the bottom of the fourth. Busch swung at the first pitch he saw and flew out to left, and Hoerner also grounded out up the middle, and Quintana his second perfect inning.
Taillon was out after four innings, and he gave way to lefty Drew Pomeranz. The lefty-lefty advantage on Yelich worked, as his grounder to short was the first out. Pomeranz then got strikeouts of Chourio and Turang, and Pomeranz had a 1-2-3 inning.
Tucker hit a ground ball to the right spot in the infield to lead off the bottom of the fifth, and that was all for Quintana, who did an excellent job of settling this game down for Milwaukee’s pitching staff. The pitcher out of the bullpen was Grant Anderson, making his first postseason appearance—a move that came as a bit of a surprise with a fresh bullpen. After starting Suzuki with two balls, Anderson got a generous call on a 2-0 sinker that looked high, and a couple of pitches later Anderson struck him out on a foul tip. Tucker then started moving toward second base too early, and he was picked off for the second out, and Anderson struck out Happ looking to end the frame.
Daniel Palencia entered for Chicago in the sixth and sat down Contreras, Frelick, and Durbin in order, and the Cubs had retired eight straight going back to the failed safety squeeze with one out in the fourth. Anderson remained in for Milwaukee, and got Kelly and Crow-Armstrong before Swanson lined a two-out single into left. Shaw worked to a full count but popped out behind the plate, and Anderson had his second zero of the evening.
Andrew Kittredge entered in the seventh, and he was greeted rudely by Jake Bauers, who popped the first pitch for a solo homer to left. Pat Murphy then made a move to bring Isaac Collins off the bench to bat for Lockridge, but he struck out on a 3-2 pitch out of the zone. Murphy kept the moves coming, and brought in Blake Perkins to hit for Ortiz (and replace Lockridge in center field). Perkins smoked a 2-2 ball but pulled it foul, but grounded out a pitch later. Yelich had an at-bat with two out and nobody on, but he grounded back to Kittredge for the third out. But the Bauers homer had whittled away another run, and the Brewers trailed by just one going to the bottom of the seventh.
Quintana and Anderson had done precisely what the Brewers needed, and with the deficit now a slim one, Milwaukee turned to Jared Koenig, making his third appearance in as many games. His first batter was Busch, who hit one pretty well but it was tracked down in the gap by Chourio (who appeared to be moving well). Hoerner’s line drive wasn’t caught, however, and he had a one-out single to right. Tucker then followed with a single of his own, and Murphy then made another pitching change, as his plan for Koenig was clearly to have him face the lefties, Busch and Tucker.
The change brought in Chad Patrick, and it was a tough spot for the young righty, with two on and one out for a guy who has not done much pitching in relief. Patrick got a ground ball to the new shortstop Andruw Monasterio, and he tried to start a 6-4-3 double play but Suzuki beat the relay throw down the line. Still, there were two outs as Happ stepped to the plate. Patrick didn’t get the call on what looked like a good 1-2 cutter on the outside corner, but he struck him out on the very next pitch, and Patrick pumped his fist as the Brewer bullpen didn’t make it easy but put up a badly needed zero.
Chourio swung Kittredge’s first pitch of the eighth and hit a fly ball to left center; PCA thought he could get it and went into a slide but he didn’t make the catch, it got past him, and even a hobbled-looking Chourio was able to get into second base with a leadoff double. That ended up being Kittredge’s only pitch of the eighth, as lefty Caleb Thielbar replaced him to face Turang. Thielbar was robbed of a strike three on a badly missed call on an 0-2 fastball that cut through the center of the bottom half of the zone, but Turang struck out on the next pitch anyway. Contreras drew a one-out walk, but Frelick hit a one-out grounder that Hoerner fielded up the middle. The Cubs tried to turn the double play, but it was hit a little too weakly, and Frelick beat the relay.
Having retired Turang and Frelick, Thielbar did his job, and Counsell summoned Brad Keller. The batter, with two outs and runners on the corners, was Durbin, who had a penchant for delivering in dramatic moments this season. Durbin instead took a decidedly undramatic four-pitch walk, but that loaded the bases for Bauers, who’d already delivered runs in two separate at-bats in this game. But after five straight balls to start his outing, Keller put three straight in the zone, and struck Bauers out swinging on a 1-2 fastball.
Milwaukee still trailed by just a run, though, and needed to hold Chicago in the eighth. They rolled with Patrick, and Kelly hit a soft liner to Turang on the first pitch of the inning. PCA tried to sneak a bunt for a hit, but Patrick made a nice play to get him by half a step. Patrick capped a fantastic outing by getting Swanson to ground out to third, and the stage was set for the ninth inning in Chicago.
Andrew Vaughn pinch-hit for Monasterio to start the ninth, but flew out to right for the first out. Perkins came back from 0-2 to a full count but struck out on a fastball down the middle, and game three was down to Yelich. He went after the first pitch and hit a hard grounder to second but Hoerner made the play, and the game was over.
This will go down as a game of missed opportunities on both sides of the ball. The Brewers will look back with regret on the three two-out runs that the Cubs scored in the first inning, on the failed safety squeeze in the fourth, and on Bauers’ bases-loaded strikeout in the eighth. But there were positives to take away: the bullpen managed another fantastic day and didn’t even use Abner Uribe or Trevor Megill. The team showed a lot of moxie, and while they couldn’t come through, they turned this into a real nail-biter for Chicago.
Despite the disappointing eighth-inning at-bat, Bauers was the offensive star. He finished 2-for-4 with a solo homer and an RBI single. Yelich and Chourio both contributed doubles, but no other Brewer had multiple hits. Out of the bullpen, the Brewers got fantastic outings from Quintana (three scoreless innings), Anderson (two), and Patrick, who looked downright nasty in his 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
The Brewers get their second crack at eliminating the Cubs tomorrow, in a game that’s scheduled for 8:08 p.m.
