Poor defense, bullpen struggles give Cubs victory
After sweeping Monday’s doubleheader against the Cubs, the Brewers failed to extend their winning streak past three, losing 8-7 behind an eighth-inning homer from Patrick Wisdom and some poor defense by the Brewers.
The game went back and forth for much of the night, as neither team lead by more than three runs the entire night. The Cubs struck first with another home run by Willson Contreras in the bottom of the first, but the Brewers found an answer in the top of the third.
Tyrone Taylor came up to the plate with the bases loaded, mashing a double down the right-field line and scoring all three runners for a 3-1 lead. The Cubs then tied it in the bottom of the fourth, stringing together a double, a single and a walk before Brewers catcher Victor Caratini made an ill-advised pickoff throw at first that ended up in right field for another run to knot it at 3-3.
Caratini made up for it in the top of the sixth, however, hitting a three-run homer to almost the exact same spot as the one he hit on Monday night for a 6-3 lead. The Cubs answered right back in the bottom of the inning, hitting for the cycle as a team and scoring four runs for a 7-6 lead.
After the Brewers rallied to tie it in the top of the seventh, the Cubs took the lead for good in the bottom of the eighth on a long homer from Patrick Wisdom.
While the Crew finished the night with two errors, there were several other plays that didn’t show up in the box score that may have cost the team. the two doubles hit by the Cubs in the sixth inning were three hits that very well could have been caught by the Brewers outfielders.
The first hit, by Christopher Morel, was hit into the right-field corner and dropped by Taylor for a triple. Contreras followed that up with a hit down the left-field line, which hit off the heel of Christian Yelich’s glove for a double. Finally Frank Schwindel hit a flyball into the left-center field gap that probably should have been caught by either Yelich or Lorenzo Cain. Instead, it got to the wall and gave the Cubs the lead.
The Brewers will look to bounce back and take the series finale Wednesday night at Wrigley Field as Brewers pitcher Jason Alexander gets the ball for the first time in his career against the Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.