Brewers 6, Cubs 7: Valiant Effort Fails To Best Bears

Box Score

Starting Pitcher: Wade Miley - 5.0 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 87 pitches, 59 strikes (67.8%)
Home Runs: None
Top 3 WPA: Raimel Tapia (.254), Willy Adames (.204), Jesse Winker (.159) 
Bottom 3 WPA: Owen Miller (-.364), Clayton Andrews (-.299), Brice Turang (-.294) 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Wade Wobbles Through Start
While Miley’s start wasn’t necessarily horrible, his four earned runs gave the Cubs important early momentum to carry until the last two innings. After a smooth first inning, he gave up a triple to Seiya Suzuki and a double to Yan Gomes to give the Cubs an early 1-0 lead. He also conceded a home run to Dansby Swanson to lead off the third inning but pitched a scoreless fourth.

In his final inning, a single by Ian Happ and double by Christopher Morel led to two more Chicago runs after a sacrifice fly by Trey Mancini and a single by Cody Bellinger. 

In Miley’s defense, the Chicago Cubs are one of the best teams in baseball at hitting lefties, posting a team OPS of .768, 8th in MLB. He’s still posting great percentile figures for a soft contact pitcher, including a 78th percentile average exit velocity, 84th percentile HardHit%, and a 81st percentile walk rate. 

Brewers Spread ‘Em Out
Rather than depending on a few breakout innings as per usual, the Brewers scored in four different innings. 

The first run came in the fifth inning after a single and stolen base from Owen Miller placed him on second with one out. After a Blake Perkins ground out advanced him to third base, he was waved in off of a single by Brice Turang. 

In the sixth inning, Yelich followed suit to score Milwaukee’s second run, hitting a single and stealing second base, coming home after a William Contreras single.

The Cubs looked like they were going to cruise through the eighth inning, hitting Joey Wiemer with a pitch before recording two quick outs. Unfortunately for them, Contreras and Rowdy Tellez hit back-to-back singles to score Wiemer and a double from Willy Adames scored Contreras, bringing the score to 6-4.

The ninth inning was as dramatic as it gets. Down by two runs, Raimel Tapia and Brice Turang hit back-to-back singles before a Yelich single scored Tapia and Jesse Winker was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A Contreras sacrifice fly would tie the game before Tellez would strike out, slamming his bat in frustration for not sealing the deal.

Bullpens Duel In Extras
Following Miley’s start, Bryse Wilson would relieve 2.1 innings, giving up just one hit and one earned run. Hoby Milner would finish the remainder of the eighth inning, giving up two hits and an earned run of his own.

In a clutch situation, J.B. Bukauskas and Elvis Peguero pitched the ninth and tenth innings, giving up no hits and keeping the game winnable. Bukauskas especially had a great outing, striking out two of his three assigned batters.

Unfortunately, Clayton Andrews couldn’t keep the boat afloat, conceding a lone single to Nico Hoerner to score the extra-innings runner, giving the Cubs the lead at an eventual final score of 7-6.

What’s Next? 
Adrian Houser will take the ball against left-handed breakout phenomenon Justin Steele in the third game of what’s been an immensely competitive series thus far. While the Cubs are great at hitting against lefties, their hitting against righties is slightly less impressive, posting a team OPS of .710, 18th in MLB. Meanwhile, the Brewers remain the worst team against lefty pitching, posting a dismal .656 OPS. 

The Brewers are currently 1.0 games behind the Cincinnati Reds and 6.0 games ahead of both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs.

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