MILWAUKEE -- On the Cubs’ quest for 27 outs, manager Craig Counsell turned to six of his 11 available pitchers in Saturday night’s 3-1 loss to the Brewers in a winner-take-all Game 5 of the National League Division Series at American Family Field.
In a series where there had been 21 first-inning runs scored through four games, both managers opted to go with top relievers to open the game. Left-hander Drew Pomeranz started for Chicago, while Milwaukee countered with All-Star closer Trevor Megill.
After retiring the first two Brewers in order, Pomeranz left a 94.1 mph four-seamer out over the plate that William Contreras drilled into Milwaukee’s bullpen in left-center field for a 1-0 lead. It was the fourth time in five games that the Brewers had tallied a first-inning score.
Pomeranz, who had thrown five perfect innings this postseason between the NL Wild Card Series and NLDS, is the first pitcher to record five straight postseason appearances of one inning and allow no baserunners since righty Mark Melancon of the 2020 Braves.
“We'll give up one homer, but other than that, thought I pitched pretty good,” Pomeranz said of his 23-pitch outing. “This year was awesome, getting in the postseason, in this game. Come back down 0-2 and have a chance to win it today. That was special. And we have a great group here, and just a really fun year.”
Pomeranz, who turns 37 on Nov. 22, was one of the club’s most pleasant surprises this season. After not appearing in the big leagues from 2022-24, he compiled a 2.17 ERA in 57 outings. A free agent this offseason, Pomeranz will now consider his future.
“I'd love to play longer,” Pomeranz said. “We'll see what happens. But like I said, I surprised myself. If you'd asked me that last year, I would’ve been like, ‘Ah, I'll play for a little bit.’ But I felt great this year. Even out there today, it felt great. One pitch, ball goes out. But other than that, just an awesome year.”
Following Seiya Suzuki's third homer of the postseason, which tied the game in the second, the Cubs turned to right-hander Colin Rea, who had been warming up during the opening frame as a bulk option. Rea’s lone blemish over 2 2/3 innings was Andrew Vaughn’s two-out solo homer in the fourth.
Chicago, which had everyone except Game 4 starter Matthew Boyd available, rolled out its other four high-leverage relievers to close out a bullpen game. Daniel Palencia (1 1/3 IP), Caleb Thielbar (two-thirds IP) and Brad Keller (1 IP) put up zeros, while Andrew Kittredge (1 1/3 IP) gave up an insurance run in the seventh on Brice Turang’s solo shot to center.
“In general, we pitched well,” Counsell said. “If you would have told me we gave up three runs going into tonight, you'd probably have to say, ‘Yup, we pitched well’ with running a full bullpen game. I would have been happy with that.
“When you give up the runs, you could say 'what if?' but they hit some pitches. Maybe Colin's pitch to Andrew Vaughn, probably want that one back. But Pomeranz's pitch was a pretty good pitch. The guys did their job. It didn't really go necessarily the way I thought it was going to go. But I thought we did a nice job, and the guys pieced it together.”
There was one notable name that didn’t pitch on Saturday, though he did warm up in the bullpen: left-hander Shota Imanaga, who struggled in the Cubs' 7-3 loss in Game 2.
Imanaga, the club’s Opening Day starter, would’ve been on normal rest to start on Saturday. He compiled a 3.73 ERA but surrendered 31 home runs -- tied for fourth most in the Majors -- this season. Including the postseason, Imanaga gave up 15 homers over his last eight outings. He allowed a pivotal homer to Manny Machado in a Game 2 loss in the NL Wild Card Series against the Padres as the bulk arm, and then another two homers in a short start (2 2/3 innings) in Game 2 of the NLDS in Milwaukee.