Article: Brewers 2, Cubs 3: Ill-Fated Eighth Gives Cubs The Victory

[Jason Wang]

In another competitive game, some unfortunate luck in the eighth inning allowed the Cubs to take and maintain a one-run lead. 

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score

Starting Pitcher: Brandon Woodruff - 6.0- IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 96 pitches, 64 strikes (66.7%)
Home Runs: None
Top 3 WPA: Mark Canha (.170), Brandon Woodruff (.066), William Contreras (.066) 
Bottom 3 WPA: Brice Turang (-.233), Joel Payamps (-.232), Christian Yelich (-.183) 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Woodruff Gets Hit Up But Finishes Strong
Similar to Corbin Burnes in the second game of the series, Woodruff made a few mistakes in the first inning to give up the only two earned runs of his start. After walking Mike Tauchman and hitting Nico Hoerner with a pitch, Ian Happ hit a one-run double, and Dansby Swanson hit a sacrifice fly to give the Cubs an early 2-0 lead. 

Aside from a single by Nico Hoerner and yet another hit by pitch against Ian Happ, both of which happened in the third inning, Brandon Woodruff finally warmed up and became unhittable. He retired his final 11 batters in a row before passing the ball to Elvis Peguero. 

He got a total of 19 swings and misses, seven from his changeup and eight from his four-seam fastball. He also got 20 called strikes, 11 of which were from his four-seam fastball.

Brandon Woodruff has an exceptional 2.70 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP over 40 innings pitched.

Brewers Battle Back
Milwaukee could only score a single run in the game's first seven innings. After a single and an error put Christian Yelich into scoring position, William Contreras sent him home with a single of his own.

Things started to heat up in the eighth inning after Mark Leiter Jr. was brought in to replace Julian Merryweather. After Carlos Santana hit a foul pop-up to record the second out, Sal Frelick started a rally by hitting a single and stealing second base. Following two walks by Willy Adames and Rowdy Tellez to load the bases, Mark Canha got hit by a pitch to send home the tying run.

Payamps Has A Tough Eighth
After Elvis Peguero had a perfect seventh inning and got three groundouts in a row, Joel Payamps was the next arm to come out of the bullpen. The first batter, Christopher Morel, reached on a fielding error by Willy Adames. Payamps walked the second batter, and a sacrifice bunt moved two Cubs into scoring position.

Rowdy Tellez made a great defensive play to get Morel out at the plate. Still, an unfortunate single by Cody Bellinger was deflected off Payamps’ foot in a way that prevented the third out from being made, allowing Mike Tauchmann to score the go-ahead run and Bellinger to reach.

Unable to score in the ninth inning, this run would allow the Cubs to win the series' final game.

What’s Next? 
The Brewers will have an off-day before starting their series against the Philadelphia Phillies, where Freddy Peralta will pitch opposite Zack Wheeler. There is some uncertainty regarding the rotation, given Adrian Houser’s recent placement on the IL, so the starter of the second game is still to be determined.

Milwaukee still holds a 3.0 game ahead of the Chicago Cubs and a 6.5-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	TOT
B Wilson	0	53	0	0	0	53
Payamps	15	0	16	0	17	48
Peguero	23	0	14	0	7	44
Uribe	0	18	0	17	0	35
Megill	0	32	0	0	0	32
Milner	0	13	18	0	0	31
Williams	14	0	0	0	0	14
Chafin	0	0	0	0	0	0

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