The Milwaukee Brewers won 5-1 over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night. The series opening win extended the Brewers’ division lead in Craig Counsell’s return to Milwaukee. After seven scoreless innings, Milwaukee put up five runs in the eighth inning on the back of a three-run home run from Willie Adames.
Justin Steele and Robert Gasser battled to a standstill on the mound, giving the fate of the game to the bullpens. The Chicago bullpen that has been inconsistent all year cost the Cubs in this game. A tally in the ninth inning put a dent in the Milwaukee lead but wasn’t enough to keep the Cubs from sinking to .500.
Pitchers Duel in Milwaukee
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Justin Steele and Robert Gasser faced off on the mound in the first game of this series between the top teams in the NL Central standings. While they were toeing the rubber, offense was nowhere to be found. Steele scattered his five baserunners earlier on in his outing, escaping his biggest threat in the third inning. Gasser ran into his biggest problem in the seventh where he allowed two hits to start the frame.
Outside of these scares, offense was hard to find. Steele retired twelve batters in a row after managing his way out of the third inning. The southpaw dazzled in his seven innings, making this outing a return to the norm for Steele, who has struggled in his recent starts. The 2023 NL Cy Young finalist gave up three hits and a walk, hit a batter and punched out eight on 93 pitches.
Robert Gasser made it into the seventh inning against the Chicago Cubs. After only giving up one hit through six, Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger hit singles to chase Gasser from the game. The 24-year-old lefty struck out seven on the afternoon in his best outing of the season. Gasser turned the ball over to Bryan Hudson with two runners on and nobody out, giving the Cubs their best scoring opportunity of the game.
Bullpens Take Over
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The Milwaukee bullpen took over for Gasser in the top of the seventh and Bryan Hudson was able to tiptoe around the threat. He took on the middle of the Chicago Cubs order and struck out two to keep the game scoreless. Hudson went back out for the eighth inning and retired the side without any harm.
The Chicago Cubs bullpen was not as effective as Hudson was for the Brewers. Justin Steele lasted seven and when Craig Counsell went to the pen in his first game as a visitor in Milwaukee, he tapped Mark Leiter Jr. to get the game to the ninth inning. Leiter Jr. was looking to rebound from his horrendous appearance in St. Louis, and while this outing was better, he still allowed the scoreless tie to be broken.
The first two hitters of the inning reached, then William Contreras hit a screamer to third and Nick Madrigal missed an opportunity to turn a double play, letting the ball squirt into left field. A run came in to score and runners were at the corners. After Leiter Jr. recorded an out he was lifted in favor of Hayden Wesneski.
Wesneski was also coming off a shaky outing, but unlike Leiter Jr., he did not improve in this appearance. The first hitter he faced was Willy Adames, who blew the game wide open with a three-run shot. The home run proved to be the deciding swing of the game but later on in the inning the Brewers would plate another run to make it a 5-0 game.
Milwaukee Brewers Shut the Door
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With a 5-0 lead, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy went to the bullpen for Hoby Milner in the non-save situation. The inning started promising for the Chicago Cubs, with Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger reaching in their second consecutive turn through the order. Christopher Morel dampened the momentum by striking out and Patrick Wisdom got just under a change-up and brought in a run on a sacrifice fly.
One hitter later, Milner ended the game and gave the Milwaukee Brewers the win in the first game of this divisional series. With the victory, the Brewers extend their early-season division lead to 4.5 games. They’ll hope to extend it even further on Tuesday night when they take on the Chicago Cubs at 6:40 PM CST.
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