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With Gary Sánchez’s heroics, Brewers send Cubs packing with an even larger NL Central deficit

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6 months ago

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With Gary Sánchez’s heroics, Brewers send Cubs packing with an even larger NL Central deficit

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From the live view of Joey Ortiz’s slick play on a ground ball for the final out Thursday afternoon at American Family Field, it looked momentarily as if the throw pulled first baseman Owen Miller off the bag ever so slightly as the runner crossed the base. 

First base umpire Tripp Gibson called an out, bringing to a conclusion the Milwaukee Brewers’ 6-4 win, although in that situation the losing team almost always will at least ask for a challenge, no matter how fleeting their chances of a reversal are, because what else at that point do they have to lose? 

But from the visitor’s dugout, Craig Counsell waved his hand toward the field, turned his back and along with the rest of his Chicago Cubs headed up the tunnel now two games further back of the Brewers than they were to start the week. 

They sure looked ready to get out of town.

The Brewers, meanwhile, resumed their briefly-paused on-field celebration after taking three of four over their rivals at home to move to five games up in the division over second-place St. Louis. The Cubs were sent to 5 ½ games back and third place. 

“I think there was a little something extra to it,” starting pitcher Colin Rea said of the series. “It feels good, obviously. Today was one of those hard-fought wins. We just kept competing, never gave up and it feels good.”

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Colin Rea goes on the attack

Ever since an uncharacteristic blip in command on May 19 in Houston in which he allowed four walks and five runs in 4 ⅓ innings, Rea has pitched much more like himself. 

Following a 5 ⅔-inning, two-run outing last weekend in Boston, Rea was on the attack once again versus the Cubs. 

There was a bit of nibbling with his fastballs early and Cody Bellinger pounded a 2-2 four-seamer out for a solo homer in the first inning to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. 

Rea flipped a switch when he came out for the second inning, mixing in more sweepers at the behest of catcher Gary Sanchez. Establishing that pitch allowed him to be aggressive with fastballs, then once his offense gave him a 3-1 lead with a rally in the bottom of the second, Rea went into full attack mode. 

Rea got 37 swings and another 18 called strikes, only walking one, over 5 ⅓ innings. 

“The mentality from pitch one is staying aggressive, especially early in the count and trying to get ahead,” Rea said. “Whether that’s with a breaking ball or fastball, sometimes using their aggression to our advantage, throwing a strike to ball pitch early in the count to get them swinging and get some weak contact.”

For the ninth time in 11 outings this year, Rea went at least five innings but no more than six. His ERA sits at 3.77. 

The Brewers went to their best relief arm but it backfired

Brewers manager Pat Murphy had a decision to make in the seventh inning. With a runner on first and one out while nursing a 3-1 lead, Murphy had Bryan Hudson warming in the bullpen, Joel Payamps on the mound and Pete Crow-Armstrong due up. 

Crow-Armstrong, a lefty, had the platoon advantage on Payamps but nonetheless was still just a .227 hitter against right-handed pitchers coming into the game and had just been recalled from Class AAA that morning. 

By going to Hudson, it would surely lead to a countermove by Counsell with a right-handed bat and one who has better numbers on the year than the rookie Crow-Armstrong. 

But Murphy went with his best arm, one with a 0.59 earned run average in 30 ⅓ innings and who hadn’t given up a run in 16 outings when tied or holding a lead. 

Seiya Suzuki grabbed a bat for the Cubs and on the third pitch he hit a game-tying two-run homer to left. 

It wasn’t necessarily a bad pitch from Hudson, but the cutter at the knees and on the inside corner just didn’t quite break enough inside on Suzuki, who dropped his bat head on it. 

Back out in the eighth with another lead – this time up 4-3 after Brice Turang’s RBI infield single in the bottom of the seventh – it became apparent it just wasn’t Hudson’s day. 

He made another decent pitch with a 3-1 four-seam fastball on the outer edge to Christopher Morel, but the Cubs third baseman was sitting on a heater and sent it out to right field for another game-tying homer off Hudson, who hadn’t allowed a ball to leave the yard all season. 

Ultimately, it was just the first shaky outing of the year for Hudson, something that eventually happens to every single pitcher.

“It’s a tough game and nobody goes through unscathed,” Murphy said. “You’re going to get hit. You’re going go on a streak where you’re not going to get hits. It’s just part of it. It’s how you get through it. How you keep it to a minimum is how you separate a lot of guys. 

Gary Sánchez is the hero 

Just over one month ago, Sánchez took a pitch off the plate and, with two strikes and two outs, hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the eighth inning. 

He did it again Thursday. 

With a man on third and a 4-4 tie after Christian Yelich and Willy Adames reached base but pinch-hitter Owen Miller had grounded into a double play, Sánchez took a sweeper from Cubs reliever Tyson Miller, who had been freshly brought into the game specifically to face Sánchez, and blasted it 422 feet to center to put the Brewers ahead.

For someone whose playing time had been sparse early in the season and was primarily brought in to face left-handed pitching, Sánchez has provided some big moments for Milwaukee. 

“Anytime you’re on the field you have the opportunity to help the team win,” he said. “If that’s not today, the opportunity can be tomorrow. I’ve been able to get some opportunities of late and hopefully that can continue to get there.”

Sánchez came into the day with only a .523 OPS since May 17, a stretch that coincided with the most consistent playing time he’s gotten all year due to Rhys Hoskins being hurt. He’s crushed lefties – he has a .971 OPS against them – as he was paid to do when the Brewers signed him this winter but also had his moments against righties, too. With a sacrifice fly and the eighth-inning homer against righties on Thursday, Sanchez now has seven extra-base hits and nine RBIs in 74 at-bats.

Playing time for Sánchez against righties may dwindle a bit again with Hoskins’ seemingly-imminent return, but he’s at the very least made Murphy consider him for the lineup on those days a bit more.

“He’s proven time and time again he’s very very capable against lefties, for sure, but also he’s capable as he proved against righties,” Murphy said. “He can hit in the clutch, and gives you a good at-bat. He’s gonna have some strikeouts but the guy is dangerous and everybody in the league knows it. I’m happy for him. He’s kind of shoved it in our faces a little bit like, ‘Hey, I can hit more than lefties.’”

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