The Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, and St. Louis Cardinals are all in a race to make the playoffs, but the Cubs made huge strides towards a playoff berth with a series win against the Brewers. Over the course of the four game series, the Brewers were only able to steal one game from the Cubs, and surely were hoping for more as they try to put together a post-season run. The north-siders lead has now increased to 5.5 games ahead of the Brewers and 6.0 games ahead of the Cardinals.
It was a wild series in Milwaukee, with three of the four games heading into extra innings. The first game of the series featured clutch hitting from big names on the Cubs. Down to the last strike of the game, Javier Baez was able to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth with a base hit. His grounder single up the middle scored a run and sent the game into extra innings, where Kris Bryant hit a two-run home run to seal the victory.
The following game also went in to extra innings after being deadlocked at 2-2 for the majority of the contest. In the top of the tenth, Tommy La Stella stepped up to the plate as a pinch hitter with bases loaded and drew a walk, scoring a run. Carl Edwards Jr. was able to close the game out in the bottom of the tenth for the Cubs’ second win of the series.
The third game of the series had Kyle Hendricks on the mound for the Cubs, who pitched a fantastic game, only allowing one run through seven innings. The Cubs went into the bottom of the ninth inning with a 2-1 lead, but the Brewers’ Orlando Arcia was able to him a home run off of Cubs closing ace Wade Davis. In the bottom of the tenth, the Brewers walked it off with a two-run homer. Davis is usually a stalwart pitching presence for the Cubs, but the Brewers had his number this game.
The final game of the series was all about pitcher Jose Quintana. The Cubs starter pitched a complete game shutout only allowing three hits and a walk all day. He was in complete control of the Brewers through all nine innings and had plenty of run support from his teammates. The Cubs ended up winning 5-0 in Quintana’s second complete game of his career.
The magic number has been reduced to two for the Cubs, and they’ll look to secure their playoff spot for good in a four game series against the Cardinals starting on Monday.
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