The Chicago Cubs aren’t exactly rolling, but the series wins keep piling up and they remain securely on their first-place perch.
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The Cubs looked meek against Junior Guerra until the sixth, when Ben Zobrist singled in Bryant after he’d reached on a single and advanced on an error by Gennett.
With the temperature nearing 100 degrees with humidity levels hovering near 80 percent, the last thing anybody in either dugout wanted Sunday afternoon was a four-hour baseball game. Guerra earned the victory in a May 15 start at Miller Park, giving up five hits and three runs over seven innings.
“That game was a little bit wacky”, said Kirk Nieuwenhuis, whose two-out home run in the ninth gave the Brewers one final gasp. And it was super hot and humid. It was probably a ball, and he put a good swing on it.
The game began with the retractable roof closed.
No doubt, Maddon will use Nathan sparingly, likely not using him for more than an inning at a time (he threw 29 pitches in this one) or on back-to-back days. With the heart of the Brewers’ order coming up, it looked like a manageable three-run deficit was going to bloom into something much worse.
Nathan gave up a leadoff triple to Jonathan Villar in the sixth and a walk before striking out 3-4-5 hitters Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy and Chris Carter.
That failure to tack on runs quickly proved costly. The Cubs have now lost six of Lackey’s last seven starts. The 31-year-old rookie hasn’t had much run support lately, as the Brewers have totaled four runs in his last three starts, and he didn’t get a decision last time out despite allowing two runs and three hits in six innings of a 3-2 loss Tuesday at Pittsburgh. Guerra will carry a shiny 2.85 ERA into his next start at home against the Pirates.
“In hindsight I should have just backhanded it, but you try to body everything up and square it up”, Elmore said. There are different little caveats attached that I have to be careful with (and) not push them too hard.
Failing to turn that potential double play wound up being disastrous. Tommy La Stella followed with an RBI double and Kris Bryant was walked to load the bases for Rizzo, who quickly cleared them by golfing a double to the gap in right-center.
In two starts against the Brewers last season, Lester went 2-0 with a very solid 1.38 ERA. Rizzo came into the game hitting.
Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said Nieuwenhuis has been “grinding” during the rough stretch. I’ll take a shot with the big plus money and the home team.
Smith had exited the clubhouse before media were allowed in and was unavailable for comment. He slogged through a 39-pitch first inning in which the Brewers scored a pair on a couple of walks, a couple of hits, a couple of stolen bases and one play by Lester in which he couldn’t get to first base in time to take a throw from Rizzo to record an out.
And that you don’t really need an eight-man bullpen for October, because Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester should be pitching deep into games, leaving the high-leverage situations for Pedro Strop, Hector Rondon and whoever else emerges across the next two-plus months.
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“There were a lot of moments in that game”, Counsell said. “We had some opportunities to add on runs in general, to score runs, and we didn’t capture those opportunities”.
