The Brewers spent Labor Day handing the Cubs a gut punch, then slamming the door shut.
In a 4-3 win Monday at sold-out American Family Field, Jackson Chourio drove in the go-ahead runs with a two-run single in the eighth, then saved the final out with a sliding catch in the ninth as Milwaukee tightened its grip on the National League Central. The holiday crowd of 42,368 got a full-throttle thriller, and the Brewers came away with a result that did more than just add another win.
Milwaukee moved eight games clear of Chicago with 17 left, and it also locked up the season series, 7-4, with only two meetings still to come. That matters because if the Cubs somehow make a late charge, the Brewers would own the tiebreaker.
The game had been hanging in the balance after Brewers starter Robert Gasser worked four strong innings before getting into trouble in the fifth. From there, Milwaukee’s bullpen covered the final 4 1/3 innings and limited Chicago to two runs, keeping the game within reach long enough for the offense to strike.
The Brewers’ comeback started with Garrett Mitchell, who had earlier tied the game at 1-1 with a fifth-inning single. This time, he drew a walk from Cubs starter Matthew Boyd to open the eighth.
Joey Ortiz followed with a double that sent Boyd out of the game and brought in Ryan Zeferjahn. Ahead in the count 1-2, Zeferjahn tried to get Chourio to chase a sinker up in the zone, but Chourio put it on the ground and threaded it through a drawn-in infield to bring home both runners and flip a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
Christian Yelich added a sacrifice fly to push the margin to 4-2, and that extra run ended up feeling huge once the ninth inning turned tense.
Trevor Megill finished off his 27th save, but not without some drama. Rookie right fielder Luis Lara made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Pedro Ramírez of extra bases, a play that loomed even larger when Pete Crow-Armstrong followed with his 41st home run to trim the lead to one. Then Chourio, who had already delivered the decisive hit, closed it out by sliding to catch Seiya Suzuki’s sinking line drive for the final out.
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What the Brewers have seen is a player whose offense still comes with familiar tradeoffs. Mitchell strikes out a lot, does not bring much power, and yet keeps finding ways to hold his own because of the amount of hard contact he produces. Even so, his place in the clubs postseason picture is far from settled, with outfield competition tightening at exactly the moment the Brewers would prefer to have their answers already in hand. [Read more 🡒]