The Milwaukee Brewers took game 2 of the NLDS over the Cubs Tuesday evening, behind three homers and a strong performance from Milwaukee’s bullpen in what turned out to be a full-blown bullpen game.
As was the case Saturday afternoon, the game began with some quick scoring from both sides. The Cubs struck first in the top of the inning, as Aaron Ashby allowed a one-out single to Nico Hoerner before walking Kyle Tucker. The next batter was Seiya Suzuki, and he promptly crushed a hanging changeup
440 feet to left, giving Chicago a 3-0 lead.
That lead wouldn’t last long.
With Shota Imanaga on the hill, the Cubs’ lefty struck out Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang back to back to begin the night. But the Brewers would mount a two-out rally, with William Contreras and Christian Yelich both picking up singles before Andrew Vaughn hit a high fly ball into the bleachers in left to even the score at 3-3 after one. Brand new ball game.
Ashby bounced back from his rough first to pick up the first two outs in the second, but he then walked Matt Shaw (with a few questionable calls from home plate umpire Mike Estabrook) and gave up a single to Justin Turner, leading Pat Murphy to call to Nick Mears in the ‘pen. Mears got Hoerner to fly out, and the threat was gone.
Imanaga bounced back from his rough first to set the Crew down in order in the second, and, in what could be considered a surprise move, Jacob Misiorowski entered to replace Mears for the third inning. Miz walked Suzuki with one out, but he worked around the baserunner to get out of the inning.
In the bottom half of the inning, Imanaga once again set down Chourio and Turang to begin the inning, but Contreras then crushed a no-doubt 411-foot homer into the left field bleachers, putting the Crew up 4-3 for their first lead of the night. After Yelich followed with a single, Imanaga was removed, and Cubs’ closer Daniel Palencia entered. Palencia got Vaughn to fly out and was out of the inning.
Miz continued to impress in the fourth inning, striking out two and working around another walk to finish with his second scoreless inning.
In the fourth, Palencia remained in the game and worked himself into some trouble, as Caleb Durbin was hit by a pitch with one out before Joey Ortiz hit a single up the middle to put runners at first and second with two outs. Chourio then followed with Milwaukee’s second three-run homer of the game to dead center, expanding the lead to 7-3.
Misiorowski worked around a leadoff single from Hoerner in the fifth — including an impressive jumping catch by Sal Frelick in foul territory — to mark another scoreless inning in what turned out to be a solid playoff debut for the 23-year-old righty. Miz ultimately went three scoreless frames, allowing just a single and two walks while striking out four to put himself in line for the win. Oh, and he hit 100-plus mph 31 TIMES, including two pitches over 104 mph.
Drew Pomeranz and Colin Rea combined to hold the Brewers to a two-out walk in the fifth, and Chad Patrick then entered to replace Misiorowski in the sixth. Patrick continued the great work, striking out a pair in a 1-2-3 inning.
The Brewers once again mounted a two-out rally in the sixth against Rea, as Ortiz choppped an infield single before Chourio hit a hard grounder to Dansby Swanson at short. Swanson made a nice play on the ball, but his throw to second to get Ortiz was wide, allowing both Ortiz and Chourio to move up and put a pair of runners in scoring position with two outs. Rea escaped the jam one batter later, though, inducing a groundout from Turang.
Jared Koenig entered for Patrick in the seventh and set the Cubs down in order, while the Brewers went down 1-2-3 in the seventh, though Yelich did single before Vaughn hit into a double play.
After Koenig picked up his fourth out in four batters to begin the eighth, Murphy went to Trevor Megill, who then induced a pair of flyouts to put the Crew just three outs from a 2-0 NLDS lead.
Frelick walked to begin the eighth but was quickly wiped out on a double play by Durbin. After Blake Perkins then singled, Ortiz ended the frame with a flyout, and it was up to Abner Uribe to shut things down in the ninth.
Uribe left no doubt in this one, striking out the side in what was a quick ninth inning as Milwaukee managed to take a 2-0 series lead.
