Cubs get to Misiorowski, but can't make early lead stand up against Crew

CHICAGO – Nico Hoerner slid across the grass in left field, rolled over onto his back and slapped his chest emphatically as the Wrigley Field crowd roared. The Cubs shortstop had just finished off an acrobatic diving catch to escape a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning Wednesday night – a moment that had the feel of a momentum shifter.

The comeback required never materialized and a Brewers team that has remained a thorn in the Cubs’ side sent the North Siders to a 9-5 loss. Chicago pounded out five runs against flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski, but Milwaukee answered back and dropped the Cubs nine games back in the National League Central race.

“They’ve got a really good ballclub over there,” Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman said. “It takes execution on our end to win these kinds of games. We didn’t execute in all phases of the game the way we should have today.”

With the Phillies’ loss on Wednesday, the Cubs remained one game behind the NL’s top Wild Card spot. Here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s loss:

1. Chasing The Miz early

Going into a matchup with Misiorowski – a leading contender for the NL Cy Young Award – is no easy task, but the Cubs have seen the hard-throwing righty more than most teams. The game plan is to find a way to be ready for pitches lower in the zone.

“You’re going to get a lot of fastballs,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said pregame. “It’s just the fastball at the top of the zone, nobody has hit it. He has the ability to throw a pitch in the strike zone that is just really challenging to hit. And there’s not many pitchers you can say that about. So, you’ve got to get the ball down against him, essentially.

“And there is damage when you can get the ball in that area of the strike zone. But that means when he executes, you’re in trouble. And that’s generally how the great ones are. That’s how it works.”

Pete Crow-Armstrong led off the first inning with a walk against Misiorowski and, two batters later, Bregman attacked a 2-2 slider low in the zone. He ripped it into the left-field bleachers with an exit velocity of 105.5 mph, per Statcast (Bregman’s second-hardest hit homer of the year). One inning later, Bregman delivered a two-run single on a 102-mph heater at the top of the zone.

The Cubs struck for five runs through the first two innings against Misiorowski, who had allowed no more than three earned runs in each of his previous 25 outings this season. Chicago’s lineup finished with four walks against the righty, chasing the Brewers’ starter from the game after four innings and 92 pitches.

“We had very good at-bats,” Counsell said postgame. “It was kind of a pass-the-line against Misiorowski and I thought we did a pretty darn good job. Their bullpen pitched very well and kind of put the game in order. We swung the bats better than the results, but their bullpen did a really nice job.”

2. Peterson’s lack of damage control

Over the past two games, there have been some defensive plays that opened windows of opportunity for the Brewers. That played a part in Cubs lefty David Peterson exiting Wednesday’s game before the end of the fourth inning.

With two outs in the first, Bregman made a nice diving stop on a grounder from William Contreras, but the third baseman bobbled the transfer to allow an infield hit. Peterson walked two of the next three batters and allowed an RBI single to Luis Lara as Milwaukee grabbed a 2-0 lead in the opening frame.

“He just had a hard time kind of finishing innings, essentially,” Counsell said. “The first inning’s probably the best example of it. He got two quick outs and they put together a pretty good inning. And then the pitch count kept getting higher and higher and higher.”

Peterson allowed a homer to Jackson Chourio in the second, then had another situation spiral on him in the fourth. With runners on second and third and one out, Brice Turang bunted a pitch that was fielded by catcher Miguel Amaya. Cooper Pratt raced home and scored after Amaya tried, too late, to flip the ball to Peterson at the plate.

In the wake of that moment, Peterson allowed back-to-back, run-scoring singles to Andrew Vaughn and Contreras to put the Cubs behind, 6-5.

“I just felt like I wasn’t getting ahead of hitters the way I needed to and the way I usually do,” said Peterson, who had a 2.35 ERA in his previous nine games. “I wasn’t executing to the level that I have been recently. Credit to them – they put up good at-bats.”

3. Webb exits after comebacker

The Cubs have already been working through an assortment of bullpen issues. Losing right-hander Jacob Webb for any amount of time would add another layer to a compounding situation.

In the ninth inning Wednesday, Webb was struck on the right forearm by a liner off the bat of Christian Yelich that had a 102.5 mph exit velocity. Webb was in clear pain, but retrieved the ball and threw errantly beyond first base. The right-hander – a closer for much of this season for Chicago – promptly exited the game.

Counsell said X-rays came back negative for any structural damage.

“Fortunately,” Counsell said of the test results. “He’s in a little bit of pain and he’s got a pretty big bruise.”

Following Webb’s exit, Joey Ortiz delivered a two-run single off Cubs righty Colin Rea. Those two runs made it seven total charged to Webb in his last four appearances, following a 24-game scoreless streak that ran between June 24-Aug. 21.