In the second game of this NL Central series the Chicago Cubs downed the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3. Rookie right-hander Ben Brown punched out ten over seven no-hit innings in his second straight appearance as a starter. After losing the opening game of the set, the Cubs victory gets them above .500 again.
The Milwaukee Brewers trailed for most of this game but were always within reach and in the ninth inning, tied the game and sent it into extra innings. After putting up five runs in one inning in Monday’s contest, the Chicago Cubs returned the favor and plated five runs in the tenth inning. Two runs in the bottom of the frame weren’t enough to respond and the Brewers let the Cubs pick up a game in the NL Central standings.
Chicago Cubs Rookie Stifles Brew Crew
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The Chicago Cubs have had a lot of confusion in their starting rotation behind Shota Imanaga and Javier Assad this season due to injuries and poor performance. Ben Brown has been with the major league club almost all year but has oscillated between the bullpen and the rotation. After pitching four shutout innings to open up against the Atlanta Braves in his last appearance, Craig Counsell trusted the rookie to take the bump on Tuesday night.
The decision was a wise one for the Chicago Cubs manager, who got his first win in Milwaukee as a visitor. Brown dazzled for seven frames, not allowing a hit on the night. Brown relied primarily on his fastball and located it well, using his breaking ball as his off-pitch.
The right-hander put up six perfect innings and only encountered some resistance in the fifth inning, where he walked two batters before getting out of the jam. Brown left the ball game after seven no-hit innings where he only allowed those two walks, punched out ten and threw 93 pitches. The 93 pitches is the highest total in the rookie’s young career.
Defense Rules Regulation Innings
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With Brown and Milwaukee Brewers starter Freddy Peralta on the mound, offense was hard to come by. The Chicago Cubs were able to push across a run in the third inning on a long home run from Michael Busch. The slumping left-hander had been quiet since his early-season power surge and his swing was the only scoring until the bottom of the ninth.
Willy Adames nearly tied the game and broke Brown’s no-hitter in the seventh when he turned around a fastball into right-center field. Cody Bellinger sized up the ball, gauged where the wall was and timed his leap perfectly to steal a home run away from the Milwaukee shortstop. The long ball would’ve been Adames’ second home run in the first two games of the series. He would make his presence known at the plate before this one was done.
The Chicago Cubs couldn’t keep the Milwaukee Brewers off the scoreboard for all nine innings, however, as Hector Neris couldn’t save the game in the bottom of the ninth. After walking Christian Yelich and putting him on second via a balk, Adames singled to left and Yelich motored around to score and tie the game up.
Offense Rules Extra Innings
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With the game tied up at 1-1, extra innings were needed to decide this one. To open up the frame, Mike Tauchman sent a pitch right back to the source, lining it off Trevor Megill’s arm. With the ball deadened in the infield, confusion from the Milwaukee Brewers infield allowed pinch-runner Luis Vazquez to come in and score to put the go-ahead run on the board.
Megill was injured and needed to be removed from the game, replaced by Hoby Milner. Milner didn’t enjoy the same success he did in the series debut. Milner gave up four hits and four more runs would come in to score. The heart of the Chicago Cubs order came through and played station-to-station until Milner was removed from the game.
Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger hit back-to-back singles and Tauchman came in to score. Nick Madrigal bunted to move them into scoring position for Ian Happ, who doubled them in to make it 5-1. Happ came in to score on a Michael Busch single later in the inning and the five-run frame gave the Chicago Cubs a 6-1 lead.
With Neris faltering in the ninth, Craig Counsell needed to look elsewhere for a way to secure the game. Luke Little was the first option and he recorded the first two outs of the inning, but allowed the Manfred Man to come in to score and make it a 6-2 game. With a runner on third and a slew of right-handed hitters coming up, Counsell opted for Tyson Miller. Miller kept the game in control and after the runner from third scored on an infield single, he struck out a pinch-hitter to end the game and give the Chicago Cubs a 6-3 win.
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