Game Recap: Cubs fall flat as Brewers take series

Michael Mcloone - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 21 hours ago

MILWAUKEE - While baseball is a long season and there is plenty of time left, the way things are trending for the Chicago Cubs (62-45), it does seem like a Panic Button is coming. Despite being 17 games above .500 and sitting two games behind the Milwaukee Brewers (64-43), this has been a .500 team at best for close to 60 games, and that simply isn't going to get it done.

In front of another packed American Family Field crowd, it was the Brewers once again leaving with a statement win, taking down the Cubs 9-3 to claim the series. Andrew Vaughn played a massive role in why the Brewers were able to come out victorious, as he drove in six, including a late Grand Slam that erased any chance of a Cubs comeback.

Looking to avenge his early-season loss against the Cubs in what may have been his worst start of the season, right-hander Quinn Priester was on the mound for the Brewers. Although he was far from perfect, Priester found ways to escape trouble as he gave the Brewers 5 2/3 innings of three-run baseball and is now sitting at 10-2 for the season.

When it comes to Colin Rea, no one is going to argue with the job he has done since taking over for Justin Steele, but it's time for Rea to move back to the pen, as his early-season success is starting to diminish. Not only did Rea allow four runs in his four innings, but he was hit extremely hard as the Brewers touched him up for eight hits. Had they not scored the rest of the way, those four runs would've been enough, but once again, it was a rough day for the Cubs' pen, especially Ryan Pressly, who could be pitching his way out of Chicago.

Giving up nine runs is never easy for an offense to overcome, but the story of the game was the countless opportunities the Cubs had to break things open, only to come away empty more often than not. With things scoreless in the second, it was the Cubs' offense starting things off as a leadoff Pete Crow-Armstrong walk was followed by a Nico Hoerner single as Chicago had two on and no outs.

PCA managed to score on a Dansby Swanson grounder to put the Cubs in front 1-0, but that was it as Priester was able to minimize the damage. While the Cubs continue to struggle when it comes to manufacturing runs, the Brewers may be the best in the game at doing that, as a pair of singles from Andrew Vaughn and Isaac Collins led off the bottom of the second and had the Brewers in business.

That is where the small-ball approach kicked in as Brice Turang dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners up, setting the stage for the Anthony Siegler sacrifice fly that made this a 1-1 game. Sacrifice flies were a big part of the Brewers' success as they loaded the bases in the bottom of the third, only to have a Vaughn sacrifice fly put Milwaukee on top for good, 2-1.

As mentioned, the Cubs had their chances to chase Priester from the game, and with Crow-Armstrong and Hoerner leading off the fourth with singles, it was the Cubs' turn to put the pressure on Milwaukee. Crow-Armstrong would eventually get to third, but was unable to score as the Cubs squandered another scoring chance.

The same can be said about the Cubs' half of the fifth as Matt Shaw led things off with a double, only to have a Kyle Tucker walk put a pair of runners on with one out. Needing a big hit from their RBI leader, Seiya Suzuki, it was Priester winning the battle as Suzuki ended the inning with a double play, killing another scoring chance.

It was at this moment when the Brewers put the game away for good, scoring seven times the next two frames, including three in the fifth to open up a 5-1 lead. Two of those runs were charged to Rea as Willson Contreras answered a leadoff Jackson Chourio triple with a double to push the lead to 3-1, while another Vaughn hit stretched their lead to 4-1. Caleb Durbin capped off the inning with Milwaukee's third sacrifice fly of the contest, as it was all Brewers up to this point, 5-1.

Had it not been for the game of Hoerner, there wouldn't be much offense to talk about as he opened the sixth with a one-out homer to make things a 5-2 game, as he had three hits in three at-bats. Ian Happ followed that homer with a double before advancing to third on a Swanson single that put runners on the corners with one out. This was the chance the Cubs were waiting for, but once again it was the offense coming up empty as Priester and Aaron Ashby stranded both runners to maintain a 5-2 lead.

As good as the Cubs' pen has been since late-April, things have been trending in the wrong direction in July, and it is getting to the point where the bullpen is once again a liability. Pressly could be the biggest liability of them all right now as his ERA is back over 4.3, while he has had an issue keeping balls inside the yard.

That continued to be the case in this one as a pair of walks mixed with an error loaded the bases for Milwaukee and had them on the verge of breaking things open. Given the situation, Pressly needed to make just one pitch to potentially get out of the inning, but instead served up a Grand Slam to Vaughn that not only was the backbreaker, but made this a 9-2 Brewers lead.

Chicago did manage to pick up a seventh-inning sacrifice fly from Crow-Armstrong to pull within 9-3, but that was it as the Brewers took the first two games from Chicago 9-3. Hoerner paced the Cubs with three hits as he was the lone Cub to record multiple hits in the loss.

“There’s a lot of baseball games left, but that’s a good team,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said after the game. “We know they're going to win a lot of games and it’s going to challenge us to win a lot of games. Usually, things of that nature go down to the last week of the season.”

The Cubs will look to avoid the sweep on Wednesday as they send Shota Imanaga to the mound against Freddie Peralta.