Jackson Chourio made sure the Chicago Cubs’ 17-run outburst didn’t linger long in Milwaukee.
Two nights after the Cubs hung 17 runs on the Brewers, Chourio delivered four hits, including his 21st home run, and Milwaukee beat Chicago 9-5 on Wednesday. The Brewers moved to 87-53, kept the best record in Major League Baseball, and bounced back with their second straight win after dropping the series opener in ugly fashion.
That was the real story of the week: not Monday’s 17-3 blowout, but how Milwaukee answered it.
Chourio did plenty of the heavy lifting. His four-hit night kept pressure on Chicago all game and helped cover for an uncharacteristically rough start from Jacob Misiorowski, who gave up five earned runs in four innings. That opened the door for the Cubs to try to build on their earlier momentum.
They never got there.
Milwaukee’s bullpen shut the door from there, with five relievers combining for five scoreless innings. Joey Ortiz added a two-run single, and Andrew Vaughn and William Contreras chipped in with run-scoring hits. By the end, the Brewers had a 14-6 edge in hits and had turned what could have been a shaky follow-up into another firm step forward.
The standings make the swing even clearer. Chicago is now nine games back with 22 games left, a gap that leaves the Cubs’ postseason spot important but the chase for Milwaukee looking out of reach.
Chourio’s night carried extra weight because of what it says about Milwaukee’s makeup. At 22, he’s no longer just the young spark on a veteran club. He’s part of the reason the Brewers can take a punch from the Cubs, absorb a bad outing from their ace, and still keep rolling.
October will bring a different kind of pressure, and Milwaukee can’t expect its bullpen to clean up every mess forever. But against Chicago, the Brewers showed the kind of response that matters.
The Cubs landed their best shot Monday. Chourio and the Brewers made sure it barely registered by Wednesday.
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