Brewers eke out another win over Cubs, take series finale 3-2

Go-ahead double by William Contreras in ninth helps guide Milwaukee to a series win at Wrigley

Box Score

Coming off a hard-fought 1-0 win over the Cubs on Tuesday night, the Brewers eked out another tough win on Wednesday afternoon, beating Chicago 3-2 behind a go-ahead double from catcher William Contreras in the ninth inning.

Justin Steele started his day off in a jam, walking Joey Ortiz and Willy Adames and allowing a single to Rhys Hoskins to load the bases with just one out. Jackson Chourio kicked off the scoring with an RBI single that was nearly caught by Mike Tauchman in center.

With a 1-0 lead and the bases still loaded, Milwaukee was unable to capitalize as Garrett Mitchell grounded into a force out that nabbed Hoskins at home and Eric Haase ended the threat with a strikeout.

Rob Zastryzny, who functioned as the opener today, got Nico Hoerner and Michael Busch out to start the game but then allowed the tying run on a Seiya Suzuki double followed by an RBI single from Ian Happ.

Steele settled in after his rough first inning, setting down 10 straight batters until Haase singled in the fourth. Meanwhile, Chicago pushed another run across off Bryse Wilson in the third, this time on a solo shot from Suzuki to make it 2-1 Cubs.

The fifth inning brought with it another threat for Milwaukee, with Blake Perkins singling and nearly stealing second — he was called out, but there was an argument to be made that it was obstruction by Nico Hoerner on the slide. A few questionable strike calls helped Steele get through five frames with still just one run allowed.

The Brewers offense once again broke through in the sixth, as Adames and Chourio led off the inning with back-to-back singles before Steele struck out Mitchell. That marked the end of the day for Steele, who made it through 5 ¹⁄₃ frames. Steele’s replacement, Tyson Miller, entered and sawed off the pinch-hitting Jake Bauers, but Bauers muscled it into center to load the bases for another pinch hitter, Brice Turang.

On a 3-2 pitch, Turang lined a single to right, scoring Adames and tying the game at 2-2. Unfortunately, Perkins hit into another force out at home, and Ortiz flew out to end the frame with the game stuck at 2-2.

After four strong innings from Wilson, who allowed just the one hit (a homer) while striking out three, Jakob Junis took over. He allowed a two-out single to Miles Mastrobuoni in the seventh, and Mastrobuoni proceeded to steal second and advance to third on an error by Gary Sánchez. He induced a groundball from Nico Hoerner, stranding the go-ahead run at third base.

Neither team had a runner reach in the eighth, meaning the winner of the rubber match would have to do so in their final at-bat. Perkins led off the ninth with a single before Contreras drilled a one-out double into the left-center gap, allowing Perkins to score easily for a 3-2 lead.

Contreras didn’t move from there, but the damage was done. Joel Payamps got the save opportunity as Trevor Megill had pitched in three of the first four games out of the break. He made quick work of the Cubs, striking out Christopher Morel and Dansby Swanson before getting Tauchman to fly out to end it.

Junis and Wilson combined to allow just two hits and a walk with four strikeouts as the bulk arms in this one, totaling seven innings between an inning each from Zastryzny and Payamps.

The Brewers offense finished the day with 10 hits, as eight players recorded a hit. Chourio and Perkins each had two-hit days, while Contreras reached three times on a double and a pair of walks.

With the win, Milwaukee improves to 59-43 on the season, six games ahead of the second-place Cardinals who lost to the Pirates Wednesday afternoon.

The Brewers get an off day on Thursday before returning to action at American Family Field on Friday against the Marlins. Freddy Peralta is scheduled to pitch for Milwaukee, with the Marlins starter still listed as TBD. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m.