Brewers 4, Cubs 3: To the brink

Another dramatic comeback fell flat when the Cubs lost in extra innings.

• by
  
  Al Yellon
  

• on September 30, 2023 at 8:00 am

It’s almost over, but we keep fighting until the end.

The Cubs lost 4-3 to the Brewers in 10 agonizing innings Friday evening in Milwaukee. Their postseason chances are almost over, and I’ll get to that in a moment.

First, a look at this defeat, the Cubs’ fourth in a row and 11th in the last 15 games.

Kyle Hendricks and former Cub Colin Rea matched the Zeros in three innings, and… how could a journeyman like Rea do that? (The answer is probably: “The Cubs just finished.”)

In the fourth, the first two homers struck out. The first of these was on This wonderful play written by Nico Horner [VIDEO].

Hendricks finished that inning without allowing any runs, so the game continued into a scoreless fifth inning. But in the bottom of that fifth inning, two singles and a walk loaded the bases with no one out for the Brewers. Thanks to a strong play, the score became 1-0, but Carlos Santana scored two more goals three times.

Yes. A hat-trick by Carlos Santana, who is probably one of the slowest guys in Major League Baseball. A hat-trick for Carlos Santana, who had not scored a hat-trick before Friday since May 2019.

sigh. That’s par for the course for these Cubs in Chicago.

Julian Meriwether hit a pair and so the score was 3-0 after five.

I’ve seen sentiment elsewhere about this possibly being Hendricks’ final game as a Cub. I don’t think that will be the case; To me, it seems counterintuitive that the Cubs would pick up Hendricks’ option for 2024, and perhaps sign him to an extension. It was a good year, and on a personal level, I think Kyle should never play a game in another uniform.

In any case.

The Cubs were unable to score in the fifth or sixth inning and This happened in the sixth inning [VIDEO].

Horner missed a ball off his left knee, and it was eventually grounded out on that at-bat. He remained in the game for one more inning but was replaced by Miles Mastroponi in the eighth inning. This is good news:

I imagine it will be very painful today. He’ll probably play if he can as long as the Cubs are still alive in the playoff race.

The game came down to the eighth with the Cubs still trailing 3-0.

In the first half of that half, Jimmer Candelario made it 3-1 [VIDEO].

This was Candelario’s sixth homer as a Cub this year and 22nd overall.

He was followed by Christopher Morrell This strange little trio [VIDEO].

I say “weird” because the brewers simply assumed it was a double. Christian Yelich casually returned the ball to the infield and Josh Donaldson, who took the relay throw, stood there as Morrell took third.

This was important, because Morrell then scored Yan Gomez [VIDEO].

Thus, the score became 3-2, and Adbert Al-Zoulay, who returned from the injured list, scored the eighth goal without goals. I had to wonder why the Zulay wasn’t rescued for a potential rescue situation.

Ian Happ then tied the game on the first pitch of the ninth minute [VIDEO].

That ball: crushed! [VIDEO]

But the Cubs couldn’t score any more, and so it came to the bottom of the ninth, where Dansby Swanson helped keep the Cubs in the game with two good defensive plays.

First, double play [VIDEO].

Then, this ball was hit by Jose Coas [VIDEO].

You see those kind of plays and think, “Hmm. Maybe the Cubs were destined to win this.”

It shouldn’t have been. They were unable to score in the top of the 10th even after the bases were loaded. Patrick Wisdom struck out to end the inning. On a 1-2 pitch and outside the strike zone… it was thrown by a guy in his MLB debut [VIDEO].

sigh.

Well, maybe the Cubs can send it to 11th.

no. Santana hit a third pitch to Coas in the bottom of the 10th for a double and the game was over. The loss dropped the Cubs’ record in one-run games to 21-23 and was their third one-run loss. this week. The Cubs’ record in extra games fell to 3-5 and they have not won a game in extras since August 24.

So, the Cubs’ playoff hopes boil down to this: They must win their remaining two games. The Pirates have to beat the Marlins twice. If those two things happen, the Mets should come back in the bottom of the ninth Monday afternoon in resuming their rain-delayed game from last Thursday and defeat the Marlins.

Oh, also, the Reds have to lose at least one of their last two games. They beat the Cardinals 19-2 on Friday night.

Could that happen? certainly. Is it likely? of course not. Fangraphs says the Cubs’ chances of making the postseason are down to 3.9 percent and frankly, that seems a bit high.

However, strange things have happened. Maybe the Cubs have one last 2023 miracle left in them. One of the best qualities of this team is that they never quit. That was enlightening to watch.

Game 161 will be Saturday night in Milwaukee. Jordan Weeks will start for the Cubs and Eric Luer will go to the Brewers. Match time is 6:10 PM Cairo time and TV coverage will be on Marquee Sports Network.

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