Cubs win in 10th on bases-loaded walk
Knebel’s free pass with bases loaded leads to lost ground in playoff race
Another night, another gut-punch of a loss for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Corey Knebel walked pinch-hitter Tommy La Stella with the bases loaded in the 10th inning, driving in the winning run in a 5-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Miller Park on Friday night.
It was the third straight setback for the Brewers, who are now not only a season-high 5-1⁄2 games off the pace in the National League Central, but also are looking up at the St. Louis Cardinals (4 1⁄2 games out) after they won in Pittsburgh.
The Cardinals also moved ahead of Milwaukee in the chase for the second wild card, with the Colorado Rockies playing late.
The beginning to the ninth was eerily similar to that of Thursday night’s Cubs comeback, but this time with Javy
Baez’s head-first slide just beating Corey Knebel to the first-base bag in a 4-4 game.
Baez was initially called out by Chris Guccione, but after a review of 1 minute 12 seconds the reversal put the go-ahead run on. Knebel responded by quickly inducing a double-play grounder, however, and then another groundout to end the threat.
Chicago relievers Mike Montgomery and Carl Edwards Jr. combined to strike the side out in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game to extras for the second straight night.
Manager Craig Counsell went with Knebel – who was pitching for the fourth time in five games – for the 10th, and he started by walking Kris Bryant. Anthony Rizzo, up next, singled and then Ben Zobrist was put on intentionally to load the bases.
Knebel struck out Leonys Martin, bringing La Stella to the plate. He worked a five-pitch walk to plate Bryant with the go-ahead run and elicit a roar from the pro-Cubs crowd of 40,116.
Knebel (1-4) got out of the inning from there, then the Brewers fell prey to some bad luck in the bottom half of the ninth.
With one out and Eric Sogard on first, Edwards uncorked a wild pitch that Willson Contreras was able to keep in front of him. Sogard tried taking second, but his momentum just barely carried his hand off the bag while Addison Russell kept the tag on.
Sogard was called out, and a short review confirmed Dana DeMuth’s ruling. Neil Walker then flew out to left, and the Brewers had lost their second straight extra-innings game to their rival.
Ryan Braun, who came in having gone a combined 0 for 9 while leaving a total of 12 runners on base in the previous two games – both close losses – wasted no time cashing in on his first opportunity of the night.
After Walker doubled off John Lackey with one out in the first, Braun followed with a single to right to give the Brewers the quick lead.
He then turned around and chipped in with a terrific defensive play to rob Zobrist of a hit to open the second, making a laid-out, diving grab on a sinking liner as rookie starter Brandon Woodruff sailed through two initial scoreless innings while topping out at 97 mph with his fastball.
Consecutive two-out homers by Stephen Vogt and rookie Brett Phillips in the bottom of the second upped Milwaukee’s lead to 3-0. It marked the eighth time this season consecutive batters went deep for the Brewers.
Phillips’ shot, which landed halfway up the second deck, measured 428 feet and gave the Brewers 217 homers on the season – second-most in franchise history. The franchise record is 231 homers, set in 2007, while the 1982 team had ranked second with 216.
Three former St. Louis Cardinals teamed up to get the Cubs on the board in the third, with Jason Heyward singling to open the inning, Lackey bunting him to second and Jon Jay doubling to right to make it 3-1.
Bryant followed with a broken-bat, bloop single to center to score Jay. Woodruff then walked Rizzo, but a tremendous diving catch by Sogard in short left field robbed Zobrist again to keep Milwaukee in front.
Zobrist would get his revenge later.
First, he turned the tables with a terrific running catch to rob Domingo Santana of a two-out, bloop RBI single in the bottom of the third, corralling the ball while running with his back completely to the infield.
Then in the fifth, he chopped a two-RBI single to center to give the Cubs their first lead of the night at 4-3. The inning was started by the pesky Jay, who worked Woodruff for a 15-pitch at-bat and fouled off 10 consecutive pitches before dropping his hit in front of Santana in right.
Woodruff then hit Bryant, and Rizzo moved the runners into scoring position with a ground ball to the left side to set the table for Zobrist.
With Woodruff done after five, left-hander Josh Hader pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings behind him and Anthony Swarzak followed Hader to finish a scoreless eighth. BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
Counsell was asked before the game if it was fair to criticize the lack of production by Braun in the Brewers’ losses on Wednesday and Thursday.
“I think if you are, you’re not really understanding the complexity of a baseball game and season and how the game works,” he said. “He had a great at-bat last night and stings the ball at the second baseman. A player on the other team hits a 62hopper that gets through the infield and he’s the hero.
“That’s baseball. That’s the tough part about baseball, is that the results aren’t always fair to everybody. That’s why the bigger sample matters. He hasn’t produced in the last couple games, but I’ll take him up there every time in a big spot.”
The Brewers on Friday offered an update on minor-leaguer Julio Mendez, who has been hospitalized since being hit by a pitch and suffering a cardiac event in a rookie Arizona League game on Aug. 26.
“At the request of his family, Julio has been transferred to a hospital in his home country of Venezuela, where he remains in critical but stable condition,” general manager David Stearns said. “We continue to send our thoughts and prayers to Julio and his family in this very difficult time.”