Game Recap: PCA makes history in Cubs loss to Brewers

Matt Marton - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 7 hours ago

CHICAGO - When the Chicago Cubs (45-29) took the field against the Milwaukee Brewers (40-35) on Thursday at Wrigley Field, not only were they a season-high 17 games above .500, but they also entered play with the best record in the National League. Considering the string of strong starting pitching that they have faced over the past three weeks, that is an accomplishment in itself, as the Cubs entered Thursday with a 13-7 record over their last 20 games.

Things didn't get any easier for them on Thursday as the Brewers elected to go with Freddie Peralta instead of their scheduled starter Jacob Misiorowski, who was supposed to take the ball on Wednesday before the game was rained out. The Cubs countered with Jameson Taillon, who in his last five starts has posted a 1.90 ERA and has emerged as the steady hand in this rotation.

At some point, you had to think a clunker was coming from Taillon, and unfortunately for the Cubs, that clunker came Thursday as the Brewers got to Taillon for five runs in four innings as part of their 8-7 win. As rough as things were for the Cubs, there was some history being made as Pete Crow-Armstrong connected for his 20th homer of the season to become the first player in baseball this season to reach the 20/20 mark.

Crow-Armstrong also became the fastest Cubs player (73 games) to reach that feat, breaking Sammy Sosa's old mark by nine games, and is the youngest player in Cubs history to reach that milestone, continuing to play at an MVP level. This was one of those games where you got a sense of how things would go early, as Taillon didn't have his best stuff from the start.

You saw that three batters into the game, Jackson Chourio started things off for the Brewers with a one-out double before coming home on a Christian Yelich single, which gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead. Taillon managed to limit the damage by inducing an inning-ending double play, but with a run in, it was the Cubs playing from behind.

Just as quickly as the Brewers grabbed the lead, it was the Cubs responding as they knew they had to get to Peralta sooner rather than later. Once again, it was the combo of Kyle Tucker and PCA getting the job done as Tucker worked a one-out walk to reach base before coming home on the Crow-Armstrong homer that gave the Cubs their only lead of the game, 2-1.

Given the weather conditions at Wrigley on Thursday, two runs wasn't going to be enough and with two big swings of the bat from Rhys Hoskins and Caleb Durbin, it was the Brewers retaking the lead as they pushed across three runs in the second on the two homers to open up a 4-2 lead. That was followed by a trio of singles from Chourio, Yelich, and William Contreras to begin the third as the Brewers opened up a 5-2 lead and chased Taillon from the game following his fourth inning.

Needing some offense in a hurry, the Cubs continued to rely on the long ball to do their damage as Dansby Swanson came through with a massive two-out blast in the bottom of the fourth to pull the Cubs within 5-3. That was as close as the Cubs would get as the Brewers continued to rely on the long ball to do most of their damage and extended their lead off Genesis Cabrera in the fifth.

There is no denying that the Cubs' bullpen has been the best in baseball for quite some time and entered play on Thursday with an ERA under 1.00 over their past 31 games. That included the run that Cabrera allowed on Tuesday, as he was back on the mound to pitch the fifth for Craig Counsell. As was the case on Tuesday, Cabrera wasn't as sharp as he has been, walking Contreras to put a runner on before the Brice Turang double put a pair of runners in scoring position with one down.

Two batters later came the big blow of the game as Isaac Collins connected for his second homer of the series to break things open 8-3. One of the key reasons why the Cubs' bullpen has been so effective is that they have the only pitchers in baseball to have appeared in 15 games and allowed no earned runs: Chris Flexen and Drew Pomeranz. With Pomeranz still nursing a stiff back, Flexen was called on to pitch the sixth, and following a leadoff single from Joey Ortiz, the Brewers were once again in business.

Flexen managed to escape that inning without any damage and went on to toss three scoreless frames with three strikeouts to keep his ERA at 0.00. In fact, following the three-run shot off Cabrera, the Brewers' offense was held in check the rest of the way as it was all Cubs from the fifth inning on as they went on a furious late-game comeback.

All it took for the offense to come to life was getting Peralta out of the game as the Cubs began to tee off on the Brewers' pen, starting with Aaron Ashby in the seventh. Following a Carson Kelly to lead things off, Nico Hoerner beat out a potential double play, which proved crucial in the inning. Hoerner would wind up stealing second base later in the inning before trotting home on the Ian Happ homer that pulled the Cubs within 8-5.

One inning later, and it was the same story for the Cubs and their offense as they took a different approach against Abner Uribe. Instead of jumping on him early, they went with more of a patient approach, as a hit by pitch and two walks loaded the bases with one out to set the Cubs up with their best scoring chance of the day.

Kelly did his best to keep the line moving by picking up an RBI forceout, while the Hoerner single pulled the Cubs within 8-7 and the teeth of their lineup set to bat against Trevor Megill in the ninth. Down to their final three outs, the Cubs got off to a great start as Happ worked a leadoff walk to put the tying run on base. That was as close as the Cubs would get as Megill closed things out for his 16th save by inducing a game-ending double play.