MILWAUKEE — Before I begin my critique of Cubs manager Craig Counsell, the Cubs’ 4-3 loss to the Brewers Monday was a really good ballgame in front of a packed house that had to be close to 40 percent Cubs fans. Well worth the drive up despite the loss.
Anyway.
Situation: The game’s going into the eighth inning with the Cubs leading 2-1. Matthew Boyd has been absolutely magnificent all the way through the first seven, allowing just four hits and one run, striking out six. He had thrown 87 pitches.
The Brewers’ leadoff hitter in the eighth was a left-handed bat, Garrett Mitchell. So I figured Counsell would leave Boyd in to face Mitchell, then call on a right-handed reliever to face the next two bats, right-handed hitters Joey Ortiz and Jackson Chourio.
Ryan Zeferjahn, who’d been so good in his last two outings, was the righty in the bullpen. Unfortunately, Boyd walked Mitchell.
Still — the right call here is to bring in Zeferjahn to face Ortiz, right? With Ortiz being a right-handed hitter and Boyd now tiring at 93 pitches?
Well, you know what happened. Ortiz doubled down the line. Now Zeferjahn has to come in and face Chourio with two runners in scoring position with nobody out. His two-run single gave the Brewers the lead, and after a walk and strikeout, Jacob Webb was called in to clean up the mess. Another walk loaded the bases and a sac fly by Christian Yelich gave the Brewers a fourth run which, as it turned out, they needed.
Counsell should have taken Boyd out after Mitchell. Period. Not sure what he was thinking.
Anyway, let’s go back to the beginning of this game, now that I’ve told you about (most of) the ending, though there’s more on that to come.
The teams matched zeroes for four innings, with both Boyd and Brewers starter Robert Gasser dealing. At one point Boyd struck out four straight Brewers. The Cubs had a chance in the fourth when with one out, Alex Bregman walked and Tyrone Taylor doubled him to third. At first it looked like Bregman might try to score on the double, but he was held. Ultimately that didn’t matter, as he was later tagged out in a rundown play [VIDEO].
The Cubs broke through in the fifth, when with two out Pedro Ramirez broke an 0-for-19 stretch with his fifth home run of the year [VIDEO].
The Brewers got that run right back in the bottom of the inning. Luis Lara led off with a single and was sacrificed to second. A single by Mitchell made it 1-1.
In the top of the seventh, the Cubs took a 2-1 lead. With two out, Pete Crow-Armstrong singled and stole second, his 35th (he’d earlier stolen his 34th) [VIDEO].
That steal tied PCA’s career high, set last year, and put him just five steals away from the first 40/40 season ever by a Cubs player.
Seiya Suzuki followed with a walk, and a single by Bregman made it 2-1 Cubs [VIDEO].
That lead did not last, unfortunately, as previously described.
So the game went to the ninth with the Brewers leading by two. The Cubs did not quit against Milwaukee closer Trevor Megill. Ramirez nearly hit his second homer of the game, but Lara stole it from him [VIDEO].
That might not quite have cleared the wall if it’s not caught, but it was close, and if it had fallen in, Ramirez’s drive would have likely been a double — and then PCA’s 41st home run would have tied the game [VIDEO].
The next hitter, Suzuki, nearly poked a double into left-center, but Chourio made this sliding grab to end the game [VIDEO].
Like I said: Good ballgame. Lots of important plays by both teams. The Cubs are a really good team. On this day, at least, the Brewers were just a bit better. We have seen this before — you cannot give the Brewers any sort of edge or they will pounce on it, and they did so when (again, my opinion) Counsell left Boyd in one batter too long.
This loss was made worse by the Phillies’ 1-0 win over the Braves, the only run Kyle Schwarber’s 43rd home run, so the Cubs trail the Phillies now by half a game for the top wild card spot. I have a feeling that the Cubs having the tiebreaker there will be very, very important.
A note on the Cubs’ two blown leads from BCB’s JohnW53:
The two leads that the Cubs squandered today, 1-0 and 2-1, were their 60th and 61st of the season. The 60th was the 22nd they have blown in the next half-inning after going ahead. All 61 have come in 51 different games. The Cubs’ record in those games is 23-28 and they have lost eight in a row since Aug. 21. They had won five straight before that.
This speaks to the bad bullpen work they’ve been getting recently. That is an issue that has to be resolved before the postseason.
Here’s a fun PCA note:
Things won’t get any easier Tuesday in Milwaukee when the Cubs have to face Jacob Misiorowski again. On the other hand, they hit him pretty well in Wrigley Field last week. Perhaps they can do it again. The Cubs will start David Peterson in another rematch from last week. Game time Tuesday is 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
