Game Recap: Cubs dig the long ball in series win over Brewers |
Dustin Riese
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- 3 hours ago
MILWAUKEE - In what has seemed like forever, especially at American Family Field, the Chicago Cubs (21-13) can finally say they took a series from the Milwaukee Brewers (16-18) as they continue to make plenty of early-season noise. For the second time in as many games, the long ball did the damage for the Cubs as they connected for three homers in the victory.
That comes after hitting four homers on Friday, as five of the Cubs' six runs came off those three homers in another impressive series win, 6-2. Given how things have gone in the early season, this Cubs offense continues to give teams fits as they are pounding the baseball in every direction. Entering the game with a sub-2.00 ERA, former Cub Jose Quintana was the next victim of this Cubs offensive attack as he had by far his worst start of the season. Despite getting off to a great start, things went off the rails quickly as he allowed a trio of homers in two innings, resulting in a six-earned-run start in five innings of work. Considering that Jameson Taillon went six innings, allowing just two runs, the Brewers' short-handed pitching staff continues to get crushed, which is setting things up for a fascinating Sunday. Apart from his first two outings of the season, Taillon has quietly become one of the Cubs' most consistent starters and has lowered his ERA to 3.86. A big reason for his recent success has been the Cubs' ability to score first, making it so much easier to pitch. With Ian Happ leading things off with a single before advancing to second on a two-out Carson Kelly walk, the Cubs were again in a great position to score, but it was going to take a two-out hit to get it done. That hit came from Justin Turner as his RBI single put the Cubs in front 1-0 and had the Brewers playing from behind again. After nearly 12 innings without a run to begin this series, Jackson Chourio's two-out double kept the Brewers half of the third alive and had their offense threatening. A few pitches later, Brice Turang cashed in the Brewers' first big hit of the series as his RBI single brought things back to even 1-1. It didn't take the Cubs offense long to respond as Kelly continued his impressive start to the season with a leadoff single to begin the fourth, and once again, the Cubs had a runner on base. Two batters later, Nico Hoerner added a single, and just like that, the Cubs had two on and one out with the bottom of the order coming up. If this were the Cubs of old, the bottom of the order would be a problem, but this season's team is drastically different, as the bottom of their order is hitting just as well as the top of the order. That includes the suddenly scorching-hot Pete Crow-Armstrong, who connected for his third homer in two days to break the game open 4-1. That was only the start as Dansby Swanson answered that PCA blast with one of his own as the Cubs offense was off and running again, 5-1. It was at this moment when the long ball started to play a role for both teams, with Rhys Hoskins answering the Cubs' homers with one of his own in the bottom of the fourth to pull the Brewers within 5-2. His homer was the final run Taillon would allow as the Cubs right-hander got through six impressive innings, allowing two runs and striking out five. As if two homers in the fourth weren't good enough, why not make it three with Kyle Tucker touching up Quintana for the Cubs' third homer in two innings to push the lead to 6-2 in the top of the fifth. Quintana managed to get through the rest of the inning without further damage, but by the time the sixth inning started, it would become a battle of the bullpens. That alone is why things remained 6-2 the rest of the way as Happ picked up the lone hit off the Brewers pen, while the combination of Julian Merryweather and Brad Keller combined to allow one hit across three scoreless frames as the Cubs take the first two games of this series to pick up another series win. Happ has been on a tear for the better part of three weeks and led the Cubs by picking up two of the team's six hits to push his average to .287 for the season. Chicago will look to complete the sweep on Sunday when it sends Shota Imanaga to the mound against Freddie Peralta. Chicago hasn't fared well in Sunday games so it will be interesting to see how they respond tomorrow. “This is star-level production, no question about it.”
Craig Counsell on Pete Crow-Armstrong 🔥 pic.twitter.com/xbAJBeab7y
