Playoff chances fade a little bit more as Brewers fall to Cubs, 7-1

Coming into today’s action, Milwaukee trailed Chicago for the second wild card by four games. A win today by the Brew Crew would have been a good beginning to a possible run to catch the Cubs in this head-to-head matchup. Unfortunately the outcome of this one would leave most in Brewer Nation frustrated.

Chase Anderson toed the rubber for Milwaukee, and Chicago got to him early. In the bottom of the first, Ian Happ led things off with a double. Cubs’ trade deadline acquisition Nicholas Castellanos continued his hot August by homering to left center field.

Anderson could not keep the Cubs off the board in the bottom of the second either. David Bote got things started in the inning with a double. He was followed by the Cubs’ pitcher, Jose Quintana, who also doubled, scoring Bote. Ian Happ reached on a fielder’s choice as the Brewers were able to cut down the lead runner, Quintana at third. Happ would come around to score on Castellanos’ second home run of the game. Quickly the Brewers were down 5-0.

Quintana made the Brewers pay with the bat, which is abnormal. He also made them pay in the way he normally does, on the mound. Quintana was able to shut Milwaukee down for 5.2 innings.

The big opportunity for Milwaukee came in the top of the fourth. With one out, Christian Yelich doubled. That was followed by back-to-back walks to Ryan Braun and Yasmani Grandal. With the bases loaded and just one out, the Brewers had Quintana on the ropes and a real chance to get back in the game.

What seems to be the frustrating story about the Brewers this season (or at least one of them) concerns their inability to capitalize with RISP. Once again they failed, and would fail other times in this game. To that point in the game, Quintana had not recorded a swinging strike. Manny Pina did not change that, but he struck out looking on a curveball that caught the outside edge. Hernan Perez would be the first to get a swinging strike on Quintana as he swung at two fastballs at his eyes. The result was a strike out and three runners stranded.

For what it’s worth, the Brewers were 3 for 10 with RISP, yet they scored just one run. That run would come in the top of the eighth. Christian Yelich singled and advanced to second later in the inning on a wild pitch. He would score on a single by Manny Pina.

One more frustrating story concerning the Brewers has been the number of injuries incurred in 2019. One more occurred in the fifth. Trying to run out a ground ball, Keston Hiura pulled up grabbing his hamstring. Right now it is being described as hamstring soreness. We will hope that is all that it is, but he is now back in Milwaukee getting examined.

The Cubs tacked on two more runs and defeated the Brewers 7-1. The Brewers play the Cubs again tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled at 1:20. Zach Davies takes the mound for Milwaukee, while Cole Hamels does the same for the Cubs.