The Chicago Cubs will head back to Wrigley Field on the brink of elimination after losing 3-7 in Milwaukee Monday night, giving the Brewers a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five NL Division Series.
Now, the Cubs must win two straight in Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday to send the series back to Milwaukee for a deciding Game 5 on Saturday.
If they don’t win Wednesday, the series ends with Milwaukee advancing. Teams falling behind 2-0 in a best-of-five postseason series have won just 10 of 90 times.
“It’s simple,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “We’ve got to just win pitches. We’ve got to win moments. You’ve got to stay with your process and your routines. It’s simple as that. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but it’s done by winning one pitch at a time and succeeding one pitch at a time.”
They haven’t won nearly enough pitches thus far.
The Cubs have struck out 23 times in this series — 12 in a 9-3 loss in Game 1 on Saturday and 11 more on Monday. Meanwhile, Chicago allowed nine runs in the first three innings Saturday and gave up seven runs in the first four frames Monday.
It’s not a surprise that they’re going out there and throwing their best arms and all their guys seem to be locked in,” said Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts Monday. “It’s our job to execute. I know I haven’t done that. It’s a pretty simple idea here. If you put more balls in play, you’ll probably score more.”
Seiya Suzuki hit a three-run homer off Aaron Ashby to put the Cubs ahead 3-0 in the top of the first inning Monday, but Shota Imanaga allowed a three-run homer to Andrew Vaughn in the bottom half. Chicago never led again.
Imanaga also allowed a solo shot to William Contreras in the third, marking the sixth time in his last eight appearances that he’s given up multiple homers.
“I ruined the game, so there’s a lot of frustration within myself,” Imanaga said through an interpreter.
Daniel Palencia took over for Imanaga and gave up a three-run homer to Jackson Chourio in the fourth. Milwaukee ranked just 22nd in the majors in homers during the regular season.
Chicago hasn’t gotten much from either of its starting pitchers so far. Although he didn’t give up any homers, Matthew Boyd yielded six runs — two earned — and got just two outs in Game 1. The Brewers scored all nine of their runs in the first two innings that day.
When do the Cubs play next?
The Cubs will turn to Jameson Taillon (11-7, 3.68 ERA) in Game 3, while the Brewers plan to start Quinn Priester (13-3, 3.32).
That game takes place Wednesday back at Wrigley Field, with first pitch set for 4:08 p.m. Central time.
Game 4, if necessary, is set to start at 8:08 p.m. Thursday, also at Wrigley Field. However, the time could change depending on the outcomes of other series.
How many games are in the Division Series?
The postseason then moves to a best-of-five format for the Division Series. The higher seed has home-field advantage for Games 1, 2 and, if necessary, 5.