Cubs survive Brewers’ comeback bid to stave off elimination | NLDS Game 3 Recap

with the NFL on CBS and Paramount+. They’re going to play more baseball at Wrigley Field. That’s because the Cubs get a win and stave off elimination. They played four in the first, including this Pete Crow-armstrong two run RBI single that made it three one. A wild pitch made it four one, and then Jake Bauers gets the Brew Crew within a run with a solo homer here and two RBIs in this game. But the Brewers cannot break through in the end. Christian Yelich hot shot to second. Nico Hoerner makes the play and the Cubs hang on 4 to 3. Scoring four runs for the first time in their last 14 playoff games. And Milwaukee has now lost four straight potential series clinching games. They come up short as they lose 4 to 3. Brewers bullpen was awesome. Quinn Priester only went two thirds of an inning for Milwaukee. The Milwaukee bullpen covered eight and a third and gave up zero runs. Was a wild pitch in their Cubs bullpen. They did their job five innings, one run, and the Brewers offense just could not get going when they had opportunities in this game. And the Cubs live to see another day as they force a game four tomorrow night back at Wrigley Field. Get some instant analysis. Welcome back to CBS sports MLB writer Matt Snider. Matt, I know it was good to see your Cubs get a win, not get swept here, especially at home in this game. Three how about the job of the Cubs bullpen? Actually, the bullpen that got the job done was the Brewers bullpen. But hey shout outs to the Cubs bullpen. Five innings, one run to keep it that close of a game in the end. Well, that’s the formula that Craig Counsell seems like he wants to do here. It’s get the starter through four innings, and then you’re going to use five relievers in whatever order it is. It’s Daniel Palencia, Caleb Thielbar, Drew Pomeranz, Andrew Kittredge and Brad Keller. You know, the problem with that is not everybody is going to have their A-plus stuff every single game. And we saw in game two, Daniel Palencia gave up the three run bomb to Jackson Chourio tonight we saw Keller having some command issues there. Maybe we’ll run into some trouble. We saw Kittredge give up the solo home run, but hey, when you’ve got that two run cushion there, you can bend but don’t break. And that’s what they did there. So it was good work. It wasn’t exceptional work like on the Brewers end. But hey, at the end of the day get the W and you live to fight another day. And the deciding run ends up being a wild pitch at four run first inning. And really, that was the key to success, right? For Chicago to jump all over Milwaukee in that first inning, that was the difference. I thought it was very important to bounce back after the Brewers scored in the top of the first, and the Cubs are down two. Nothing in the series, especially because the Brewers probably didn’t really deserve that run. I mean, and we talked about this off air earlier that that’s an infield fly. That’s an there’s runners on first and second with one out. There’s a pop up that was in the air for over six seconds. It landed right in the middle of the infield. Nobody saw it. The umpires didn’t see it. The players didn’t see it. I believe the umpires would. What they’re going to say is we didn’t see the pop up, so we couldn’t call infield fly rule. And the Brewers ended up having bases loaded and scoring a run on a sac fly. But like I said, so important for the Cubs to bounce back from that when they could have rolled over Michael Bush with a solo shot to lead it off, becoming the first player ever to have two leadoff home runs in the same series, by the way, and this is only game three, and he didn’t even lead off in game two, so he’s two for two when he leads off on hitting leadoff home runs and then two outs. Bases loaded PCA with a big clutch knock. That was the thing that really made a big difference in this game. Gave the Cubs a little breathing room. They got the lead through the first inning, which didn’t happen in the first two games, even though they scored in the first. So it was a big first inning for the Cubs. Chicago staved off elimination. We think it’s going to be the game one matchup. Matthew Boyd against Freddy Peralta. Brewers won that game. When you have those two starters going back out there now for a second time in the series, what are you looking for? What are you watching for? Well, I think it’s to the Brewers advantage. Peralta is a much better pitcher than Matthew Boyd, especially in the second half. Boyd had a 5.51 ERA after the all star break. We saw what the Brewers did to him in game one. Now that was on short rest. He’ll be on regular rest this time. You would think he would be a little bit better. But the Brewers having had success against him in game one, they have to have the advantage in this one. The Cubs have hit right handed pitching really well all season though, and they’ve hit better at home than on the road, generally speaking, although they were much better in the first half. I think the Cubs need to score runs in more than one inning. And this one, you know, they get the four run lead in the first inning, just like they hit a three run bomb in the first inning in game two. And then they just stopped scoring. If they have opportunities to score later in the game, I think they need to continue to score. My hunch is that the Brewers get this game, but by no means are the Cubs out of the series. They’re right back in it, cutting it to one. Well, they stave off elimination. They’re going to play a game four tomorrow night at Wrigley Field. And when you look at this series as a whole, I mean it’s been the first two games were a blowout. Then we get a close game here in game three based on how things start to tighten up here at the late stages of these series, it’s going to be back to the bullpen. I mean, if you think about it, it’s going to be who’s bullpen will be better in game four. And I’m a little bit concerned and I know these guys are going on adrenaline. But look, a lot of guys were used out of both bullpens, which that could be where the game is decided tomorrow 100%. And I think the Cubs are more prone to a meltdown inning from any one of those guys out there. Like I said, with plenty of giving up the three run bomb the other night. It could happen to Pomeranz. It could happen to Kittredge. We saw him give up the home run tonight. Keller has been living on by the skin of his teeth these playoffs. He almost blew game three of the wild card series. Had to get Kittredge to bail him out. I think you have to trust the Brewers relievers a little bit more. But as you said, they all might be on fumes by now, especially having to go back to back days in this one where the Brewers have an advantage. They use starters in relief. Today they got Jose Quintana giving them some length after Priester didn’t do very well, Chad Patrick got several outs. Went more than an inning. He’s normally a starter, so I think that’s where the Brewers depth comes into play here, and how Pat Murphy trusts a lot more guys in his bullpen, and rightfully so than Craig Counsell trusts in his. Yeah, you’re going to need Freddy Peralta. I mean, you’d like ideally for Milwaukee. You’d like him to go out there and pitch seven, and if they do, then they’re going to win. It’s pretty simple to me. And I think, Boyd, I know council is going to try to get Boyd through four and then bail, but I kind of feel like you need him to go 5 or 6 because these guys, these five guys, the Cubs have ridden them so hard in these five playoff games. So, so so far I know they’ve had a lot of days off since game three of the Wild Card series, but he worked them so hard in the wild card series and he rode those five guys tonight. It’s a back to back tomorrow. Just feels like the Cubs need more from Boyd. Well, they got enough from Brad Keller. They got a four out save from him. First Cubs pitcher with a four out save in the postseason since 2017. That was a huge outing there for Brad Keller. And Matt Snyder and his Cubs get themselves a win to stave off elimination and live to play one more day. Game four coming your way Thursday night, Matt. Thank you. So look, they have tried and they have failed. Milwaukee has lost four straight potential series clinching games, but they’re going to get another chance on Thursday game four back at Wrigley. They’re going to have a chance here with their ace on the mound to advance to the NLCS. But they got to get through this Chicago Cubs lineup who found a way he on Wednesday thanks to a

Matt Snyder joins CBS Sports HQ to recap Game 3 of the National League Division Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs.

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