From the live view of Joey Ortiz’s skillful play on a ground ball for the final out Thursday afternoon at American Family Field, it momentarily appeared as if the throw was pulling first baseman Owen Miller slightly off the bag as as the runner crossed the base.
First base umpire Tripp Gibson called an out, ending the Milwaukee Brewers’ 6-4 victory, although in this situation the losing team will almost always ask for at least one challenge, no matter how fleeting their chances are. overturning. because what else do they have to lose at that point?
But from the visitors’ dugout, Craig Counsell waved his hand toward the field, turned his back and, with the rest of his Chicago Cubs, headed toward the tunnel, now two games further from the Brewers than they weren’t at the start of the week.
They really looked like they were ready to leave town.
The Brewers, meanwhile, resumed their briefly interrupted on-field celebration after winning three of four games against their home rivals to move to a five-game lead in the division against second-place St. Louis. The Cubs were bounced 5 1/2 games in and in third place.
“I think there was a little something extra,” starting pitcher Colin Rea said of the series. “It feels good, obviously. Today was one of those hard-fought victories. We kept competing, we never gave up and it felt good.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Colin Rea goes on the attack
Since an unusual May 19 outburst in Houston in which he allowed four walks and five runs in 4 ⅓ innings, Rea has pitched a lot more like himself.
After a 5 ⅔ inning, two-run outing last weekend in Boston, Rea was on offense again against the Cubs.
There was a bit of nibbling with his fastballs early and Cody Bellinger hit a 2-2 four-seam takedown for a solo homer in the first inning to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.
Rea flipped a switch when he came out for the second inning, mixing in more sweepers at the behest of catcher Gary Sanchez. Establishing that pitch allowed him to be aggressive with fastballs, then once his offense gave him a 3-1 lead with a rally late in the second, Rea went into full attack mode.
Rea had 37 swings and 18 other called strikes, including just one, in 5 ⅓ innings.
“The first-pitch mentality is to stay aggressive, especially early in the count and try to get ahead,” Rea said. “Whether it’s with a breaking ball or a fastball, sometimes using their aggressiveness to our advantage, throwing a strike down the ball field early in the count to get them swinging and get weak contact.”
For the ninth time in 11 outings this year, Rea played at least five rounds but no more than six. His ERA stands at 3.77.
The Brewers turned to their top relief arm, but it backfired
Brewers manager Pat Murphy had a decision to make in the seventh inning. With a runner on first and one out while holding a 3-1 lead, Murphy had Bryan Hudson warming up in the bullpen, Joel Payamps on the mound and Pete Crow-Armstrong waiting.
Crow-Armstrong, a left-hander, had the platoon advantage over Payamps, but was nonetheless only a .227 hitter against right-handed pitchers entering the game and had just been recalled from Class AAA that morning .
Going to Hudson would surely lead to a counterattack from Counsell with a right-handed bat and one who has better numbers on the year than rookie Crow-Armstrong.
But Murphy went with his best arm, one with a 0.59 ERA in 30 ⅓ innings and who hadn’t given up a run in 16 outings when tied or leading.
Seiya Suzuki grabbed a bat for the Cubs and on the third pitch he hit a tying two-run homer to left.
It wasn’t necessarily a bad throw from Hudson, but the cutter at the knees and inside corner just didn’t break inside enough on Suzuki, who dropped his bat head on it.
Back in the eighth with another lead – this time 4-3 after Brice Turang’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh – it became clear that it just wasn’t Hudson’s day.
He made another decent throw with a 3-1 four-seam fastball to the outside edge of Christopher Morel, but the Cubs third baseman was sitting on a radiator and sent it to right field for another homer equalizer against Hudson, who had not succeeded. I haven’t allowed a ball to leave the field all season.
Ultimately, it was just Hudson’s first shaky outing of the year, something that happens to every pitcher eventually.
“It’s a tough game and no one comes out of this unscathed,” Murphy said. “You’re going to get hit.” You’re going to go through a streak where you’re not going to get any hits. That’s just part of it. This is how we get by. How you keep it to a minimum is how you separate a lot of guys.
Gary Sánchez is the hero
A little over a month ago, Sánchez struck out a pitch and, with two strikes and two outs, hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning.
He did it again on Thursday.
With a man on third and a 4-4 tie after Christian Yelich and Willy Adames reached base but pinch hitter Owen Miller had hit a double play, Sánchez took a sweeper from Cubs reliever Tyson Miller, who had been freshly introduced into the match. specifically to face Sánchez, and blasted him 422 feet to center to give the Brewers the lead.
For someone whose playing time had been scarce early in the season and who was primarily forced to face left-handed pitchers, Sánchez provided some big moments for Milwaukee.
“Every time you’re on the field, you have an opportunity to help the team win,” he said. “If not today, the opportunity may be tomorrow. I’ve been able to get a few opportunities lately and I hope that can continue to happen.
Sánchez came in with just a .523 OPS since May 17, a stretch that coincided with the most consistent playing time he’s gotten all year due to Rhys Hoskins’ injury. He’s crushed lefties — he has a .971 OPS against them — like he was paid to do when the Brewers signed him this winter, but he’s had his moments against righties, too. With a sacrifice fly and the eighth-inning homer against right-handers on Thursday, Sanchez now has seven extra-base hits and nine RBIs in 74 at-bats.
Sánchez’s playing time against righties might still decrease a bit with Hoskins’ seemingly imminent return, but it has at least made Murphy consider him a bit more for the lineup on those days.
“He’s proven time and time again that he’s very, very capable against lefties, of course, but he’s also capable as he’s proven against righties,” Murphy said. “He can hit in the clutch and gives you a good shot. He’s going to get some strikeouts, but this guy is dangerous and everyone in the league knows it. I’m happy for him. He kind of shoved it in our faces, kind of like, ‘Hey, I can hit more than lefties.’
