Article: Brewers 3, Cubs 4: Williams Breaks Down

[Jason Wang]

In a rare blown save, Devin Williams failed to secure the last out needed to claim victory. A couple of well-placed hits and a couple of insufficient plays by the Brewers defense allowed the Cubs to squeak by with a narrow 4-3 victory.

Image courtesy of © Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score

Starting Pitcher: Adrian Houser - 5.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 104 pitches, 60 strikes (57.7%)
Home Runs: Willy Adames (13)
Top 3 WPA: Adrian Houser (.160), Hoby Milner (.132), Brian Anderson (.116) 
Bottom 3 WPA: Devin Williams (-.725), Joey Wiemer (-.104), Brice Turang (-.089) 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Houser Leaves It All On The Field
Adrian Houser was able to limit the tepid Cubs lineup to just one run in his five-inning start. It wasn’t easy, requiring over 100 pitches from him after giving up six total hits, but he was able to escape inning after inning.

His only earned run came in the third frame, after he hit Mike Tauchman with a pitch. Tauchman advanced to second following a failed pickoff attempt and two more singles from Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ brought him home, to give Chicago the first run of the game.

With two runners on, Houser got a crucial double play out of Dansby Swanson to escape the inning. The fifth inning started to seem like more trouble, with two walks and a single loading the bases with just one out. Once again, a handy-dandy Swanson double play ended the inning and Houser’s day.

Houser currently has a 3.68 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP over 51 1/3 innings pitched. While his ERA is serviceable for a starter, a 1.54 WHIP is quite high, boosted by starts like today.

Bats Slow Down, But Do Enough
Milwaukee’s offense wasn’t as explosive in Wednesday’s game as the rest of the series, but it was enough to take a lead in the sixth inning. The Brewers tied the game in the third, following a single by Andruw Monasterio. He advanced to second on a groundout by Christian Yelich and scored on a William Contreras single to right field. 

The go-ahead run came in the form of a monstrous leadoff home run by Willy Adames, a 390-foot bomb to left center field that put the Brewers up 2-1.

After a single and a stolen base by Jahmai Jones, Brian Anderson’s dad-powered RBI single made the score 3-1 heading into the seventh inning.

Disaster Strikes Devin
After three scoreless relief innings by Hoby Milner, J.C. Mejia, and Joel Payamps, Devin Williams stepped in to close out the game. Tasked with preserving a 3-1 lead, it seemed like just another day in the office for Williams, who had blown just one save all season. 

After two singles and two outs, Williams needed just one more out to seal the deal and walk away with yet another victory. Unfortunately, a Tauchman double scored Cody Bellinger and Jared Young to the game at 3-3, a catastrophic outcome. 

To make matters worse, Nico Hoerner hit a ground ball to Anderson, who made a throwing error to allow Tauchman to score the go-ahead run. While Hoerner was the third out at second base after trying to stretch his luck, it was too late for Milwaukee.

The Brewers were retired in order in the ninth inning, fully blowing the small but very real lead they had at the start of the inning.

What’s Next? 
Freddy Peralta will duel Marcus Stroman in the fourth and final game of the series. Currently down 1-2, the Brewers will hope to tie it up and prevent the Cubs from inching closer to their spot in the NL Central. This series has been extremely competitive and the final game of the set should be no different.

Milwaukee is now 2.0 games behind the Cincinnati Reds and 5.0 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	TOT
Williams	0	9	19	0	25	53
Payamps	13	0	16	0	14	43
B Wilson	11	0	0	31	0	42
Milner	0	1	0	19	20	40
Peguero	0	20	0	12	0	32
Mejia	0	0	0	0	4	4
Miller	0	0	0	0	0	0

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