Jacob Misiorowski hasn’t allowed a run since April 25.
The Miz extended his scoreless streak to four straight starts and 24 1/3 innings this evening, and this time the Brewers were able to hold the slim lead that he left the game with. A good thing, too, as the Brewers had plenty of chances to turn this one into a laugher early. While they let some of those chances go by the wayside, some scrappy early runs against starter Ben Brown (who has been excellent this year) and a big hit from Brice Turang late gave the Brewers the cushion they needed to survive a late rally by the Cubs.
The Brewers again got out to an early lead tonight. After Jackson Chourio struck out, Turang and William Contreras walked and singled to put runners on first and second. Brown struck out Yelich for out number two, but Garrett Mitchell came through with a big two-out hit on his bugaboo, the high fastball. Mitchell turned one around for an RBI single up the middle, and the Brewers led 1-0.
Misiorowski got off to a somewhat shaky start when Nico Hoerner walked, and Michael Busch reached on a David Hamilton error. But Alex Bregman flew out to center, Ian Happ struck out looking, and Seiya Suzuki went down swinging on a 95-mph slider.
The second inning passed without much fanfare, but the Brewers were back at it in the third. Chourio and Turang led off the inning with back-to-back singles, and after a Contreras fielder’s choice, the Brewers had runners on first and third with one out. After another Yelich strikeout, Brown had a path out of the inning, but a wild pitch with Mitchell at the plate scored Chourio from third (it was Brown’s league-leading sixth wild pitch of the season). After a Mitchell walk and a mound visit, Jake Bauers jumped on a hanging first-pitch curveball and smacked it into right for another RBI single, extending Milwaukee’s lead to 3-0.
Misiorowski put up his second straight 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the third, and the Brewers again got off to a threatening start in the top of the fourth. Sal Frelick reached second base when Pete Crow-Armstrong inexplicably dropped a fly ball, and a patented David Hamilton bunt single put runners on the corners, which turned into runners on second and third when Hamilton stole second with Chourio at the plate. Brown battled back, though: Chourio and Turang both struck out, and Contreras hit a hard ground ball to third that turned into an out. The Cubs were teetering, but remained in the game.
Suzuki managed a two-out single — Chicago’s first of the game — in the bottom of the fourth, but that was all the Cubs got off of Miz, who struck out two more batters and added another inning to his scoreless streak. Yelich hit a double on a fly ball down the left-field line to start the fifth, but Brown wriggled off the hook again when Mitchell grounded out, Bauers struck out with Yelich standing on third, and Rengifo grounded out.
Dansby Swanson led off the bottom of the inning with a single, but PCA struck out, and Miguel Amaya grounded into a double play, with Bauers making a nice stretch on the back end. Milwaukee threatened again in the sixth, this time against reliever Jacob Webb, when Frelick singled to start things, but Hamilton failed to get a bunt down(!), and Chourio flied out. Turang singled with two outs, and Contreras put a charge into one, but it held up in center for Crow-Armstrong, and he made the catch for the third out.
Hoerner started the sixth with a swinging bunt for a single, but Misiorowski got the next three without much trouble. That capped another stellar outing for Misiorowski: he extended his scoreless inning streak to 24 innings, allowed just three hits (all singles) and one walk, and struck out eight (restoring sole possession of the league lead in strikeouts). His ERA is down to 1.89.
Caleb Thielbar was the Cubs’ new pitcher in the seventh, and he got through the inning with no damage beyond a two-out single from Bauers. Trevor Megill was the first man out of Milwaukee’s bullpen tonight, and he struck out Suzuki, got Moisés Ballesteros on a fly ball, and struck out Swanson after a bit of a battle.
The Brewers got a couple of important insurance runs in the top of the eighth. With one out, Hamilton walked. Chourio flew out for the second out, and Hamilton was safe stealing second, a call that stood after the Cubs challenged it. The stolen base didn’t matter, but the extra out did, as Turang got a fastball that got too much of the plate and blasted his seventh homer on a high fly ball to left-center, putting the Crew up 5-0.
Aaron Ashby replaced Megill in the bottom of the eighth, and things got hairy. PCA singled to start things, and Amaya followed with a ground-rule double into the ivy. A Hoerner single scored Crow-Armstrong and put runners on the corners. Busch was called out on strikes for the first out, and a wild pitch advanced Hoerner to second (though Amaya had to hold at third). Bregman struck out for the second out, but Happ walked, and Rengifo was unable to handle a hard grounder from Suzuki. Rengifo was at least able to keep it in the infield, and thus the Cubs only scored a run — Suzuki was credited with an infield single.
That was all for Ashby, though, as the go-ahead run came to the plate. Pat Murphy called for Chad Patrick from the Milwaukee bullpen, and Craig Counsell countered by pinch-hitting Michael Conforto for the initially announced pinch-hitter Matt Shaw (who was supposed to bat for Ballesteros). But Patrick did what he needed to do, and Conforto grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning. It wasn’t a fun inning for Brewers fans, but they came out of it hanging onto a three-run lead.
Phil Maton shut the Brewers down in the ninth. Abner Uribe came in for Patrick, and he nearly walked the leadoff (and nine-hole) hitter, Swanson, but he struck him out looking on a very close pitch that was upheld on review. After that, it was much easier: Crow-Armstrong grounded out, as did pinch-hitter Carson Kelly. The Brewers won 5-2.
In Misiorowski’s last start, the Brewers’ bullpen was unable to preserve his gem of an outing. Tonight, he did it again, and while Milwaukee flirted with disaster, they held on for a satisfying win. Miz was the big star, but Megill and Uribe both looked good, and Patrick came up with a clutch out. On the offensive side, Turang was the standout: he went 3-for-4 with two singles, a homer, a walk, two runs scored, and two RBIs. Every other Brewer starter contributed a hit (Bauers had two) except for Rengifo, while Yelich had the team’s only other extra-base hit with his double.
Milwaukee now leads the division, and they’ll try to preserve that lead by sweeping Chicago, a team that had won 15 straight home games coming into this series, tomorrow. It’s a good pitching matchup, with Kyle Harrison on the mound for the Brewers and Edward Cabrera for the Cubs. It’s a rare third straight night game on the north side, so catch that game at 6:40 p.m.