Jason airborne: HR lifts Cubs
Heyward’s blast in 11th assures team will leave Milwaukee in first place
MILWAUKEE — For all the talk of trade deadlines and stretch drives, the Cubs and Brewers have turned July into late September for two nights at Miller Park.
Separated by a half- game at the top of the National League Central standings when play started Saturday night, the teams flexed enough pitching to battle into the 11th inning.
That’s when Jason Heyward drove a 1- 1 pitch from Jared Hughes into the Cubs’ bullpen in right field for the tiebreaking home run that would give the Cubs a 2- 1 victory and assure they’ll escape Milwaukee in first place.
‘‘ It’s Jaugust,” manager Joe Maddon joked, later playing word games with versions of September and October. “It’s already here. There’s no getting around it.
“I absolutely love it. Our players do. The fans were absolutely energized tonight. It’s just a really high energy, two well- played games; both sides have really pitched well.”
The game featured 14 pitchers in front of a heavily Cubs- partisan crowd — the biggest of the year at Miller Park — and came only one night after the Brewers beat the Cubs 2- 1 after the Cubs put the potential tying run at third in the ninth.
“I wasn’t really expecting it to feel quite like this,” said Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks, who pitched well for five- plus innings in his second start since a seven- week finger injury. “It’s definitely good baseball, really good baseball — making good pitches, playing good defense. “It’s a good test for us.” It took less than two weeks out of the All- Star break for the Cubs to chase down the Brewers’ 5 ½ - game lead, and they took a 1 ½ - game lead into the series.
Jake Arrieta said before the series opened that the Cubs were “feeling it” and expected to stay in first place the rest of the year. That plan was in jeopardy as soon as the Brewers scored in the first inning.
But Hendricks and six relievers shut down the Brewers the rest of the way, and the Cubs’ strikeoutheavy lineup did just enough to get the victory.
“It’s fun,” said Heyward, who was hitless in his last 11 at- bats until the homer. “It’s good baseball. Can’t ask for anything more than that.” Maddon can. This one featured 17 strikeouts and only six hits by Cubs batters. The Cubs drew leadoff walks three times without scoring. They left the bases loaded in the third. And they didn’t manage a hit from the eighth inning through the first batter of the 11th.
“We struck out 17 times twice in a week [ also Tuesday against the White Sox] and win two games,” Maddon mused. “Go check with Elias on that bad boy. But we’ve got to do a much better job. I’m disappointed in that, the lack of contact, the lack of adjustments. We have to get better with that or we’re not going anywhere offensively. But we’ll take the home run.”
And they’ll take a shot at extending their division lead to a seasonbest 2 ½ games Sunday.
And then get back to work on Arrieta’s plan.
“It’s not August yet,” cautioned Heyward, whose eighth homer gave him one more than he hit all of last season. “It’s just one game at a time, and we’ll look up and see what happens at the end of the year. We know where we want to be when the last game’s played. We’re showing up every day doing the best we can, the way we should.’’
He pointed out that other teams have improved since last year and adjusted to the World Series champs.
“We know we control our own destiny, and that’s it,” Heyward said.
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