For four innings, both Brandon Woodruff and Alec Mills looked unreachable.
Both took no-hitters in the 5th inning – and both did not end up with a quality start.
The Brewers’ early offensive misery continued through Friday night – both teams actually started the game 9 up, 9 down – but Milwaukee could actually score first for a change. Sure, they made 2 outs in the process when Ben Gamel turned 1st and 3rd with no outs in the top 5 in a run-scoring double play, but a lead is an advantage for the Brewers.
Unfortunately, it did not last long, as Woodruff hit a brick wall in the bottom half of the 5th. Jason Heyward broke Woodruff’s no-hit bid with a one-out single, and then the next five fighters also reached out to chase him out of the game.
It wasn’t as sudden as that sentence might sound – it was an ominous 30-pitch stretch, including a 9-pitch at-bat against Jason Kipnis that saw Woodruff unable to put the veteran away in a two-pointer -strike count, with seven foul balls before Kipnis rode into the game-tying run with an RBI single.
From there, Woodruff ran Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ at 3-2, the latter forced into the head forward. A bloop-RBI single by Anthony Rizzo on a field that was not even an attack meant Woodruff would be pursued before he could even finish 5 innings.
Fortunately, Bullpen Freddy was at his best. Peralta did not give Javy Baez a fast ball in the zone, but instead one up and in and two nasty sliders to knock him out. Another strikeout with a move against Kyle Schwarber got the Brewers out of the inning just 3-1.
That long offensive inning for the Cubs may have deterred Mills, who crawled up to that point. Eric Sogard led the top of the 6th with a single that he practically knocked off the ground, and an HBP to Keston Hiura meant that Christian Yelich would come up with 2 and no one would come out – and the momentum would suddenly shift.
The hanging turn of Mills was crushed for a 3-run home run that gave the Brewers a 4-3 lead, just minutes after a painful inning that felt like another negative turning point in what has been a frustrating week.
Instead, it encouraged an electric run by the Brewers’ mid-supply corps. Peralta came back in the 6th inning and struck out 2 more batters, then struck out the first batter of the 7th for good measure. He ended his night recording 6 outs – 5 of their strikeouts, with 13 swinging strikes.
Devin Williams followed with a similarly dominant effort, getting the last 2 outs of the 7th inning and starting the 8th by hitting Baez before Kyle Schwarber “doubled” from Gamel’s open glove in right field to put the track in scoring position set. Williams bounced back by getting Contreras on a dirty exchange, paving the way for Josh Hader to go for his first save of the year in four years.
It, well, was not easy. Completely unable to find his slider and barely finding his fastball, Hader ended up loading on the 8th – Steven Souza, Jr. Running, after putting him in a 0-2 score and hitting David Bote on the foot with a 3-2 move – before getting out of trouble by putting Josh Phegley out to finish 8th.
Instead of going to David Phelps for the 9th inning, Craig Counsell chose to stick with Hader in the 9th. It was not easy again. Nico Hoerner started the inning with a hard line-up to left field before Hader could get Ian Happ to look out. A two-out walk to Anthony Rizzo put the band back on, but Hader was able to find his move just in time to free Baez for the strike-out of the game.
In all, it was a game that felt like two separate games. However, the Brewers were able to snap their move with a 4-3 win.
The Cubs have lost twice at Wrigley Field this year, and both have come up against the Brewers. Milwaukee will try to at least guarantee a split tomorrow in what is now an afternoon game due to impressive storms in Chicago Saturday night. First pitch is scheduled for 2:20 p.m. CDT. Adrian Houser will get the start for the Brewers. The Cubs’ start is TBD after Mills went up one day with Tyler Chatwood of the night scratching.
