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Milwaukee Brewers vs Chicago Cubs: Struggling to capitalize with men on

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Milwaukee Brewers vs Chicago Cubs: Struggling to capitalize with men on

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The Milwaukee Brewers open up their last series of the year at Wrigley Field on Monday night against the Chicago Cubs.

Follow along for live updates.

Ian Happ extends the lead

Death, taxes and Ian Happ homering against the Brewers.

Or so it seems, at least. The Cubs left-fielder hit the 13th homer of his career against Milwaukee with a solo blast to right in the sixth. He entered the day with a .946 OPS against the Brewers in 2024, one year after having a 1.071 OPS against them.

Another miscue, another Cubs run

This isn’t a clean game for the Brewers.

Chicago pushed its lead to 2-0 in the fourth thanks to a throwing error from Tobias Myers — on what should have been a double play — and a subsequent wild pitch with the bases loaded, two outs and an 0-2 count on Pete Crow-Armstrong, who came into the day batting .189. Myers, on a grounder back to the mound with one out, airmailed his throw to second on what should have been a double play. Instead, it went into center field, extending the inning and eventually burning him when he spiked an 0-2 slider to Crow-Armstrong.

Myers finished the day going 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks while striking out six.

The hits (don’t) keep on coming

On one hand the Brewers have six walks and two hits through four innings.

On the other, they have made it so that Cubs starter Javier Assad became the first pitcher since 2016 to walk six in fewer than four frames and not give up a single run.

The Brewers stranded the bases loaded in both the third and fourth innings, rendering themselves completely unable to capitalize on Assad’s wildness while on the mound. After walking Rhys Hoskins and Joey Ortiz with one out in the fourth, Assad was pulled in favor of Drew Smyly, who promptly allowed a single to Garrett Mitchell to load the bases.

But Brice Turang hit a grounder to first that ended with a force play at home, then William Contreras rolled to third to end the threat.

Sal Frelick unable to deliver twice but Michael Busch does

The Brewers haven’t hit Cubs starter Javier Assad around through three innings, but they are putting pressure on him. With one hit and four walks, Milwaukee put men in scoring position in both the first and third innings but came up empty when Sal Frelick was unable to deliver a timely hit.

In the first, with runners on first and second, Frelick ended the inning with a 19.8 mph tapper to the mound. In the third, he got ahead 3-0 in the count with the bases loaded only to ground out to shortstop in a full count.

The Brewers have yet to score off a Cubs starter at Wrigley across 18 1/3 innings.

Poor defense gifted the Cubs a run in the bottom of the third to open the scoring Willy Adames misplayed a grounder from Miguel Amaya, who then advanced to second on a balk when Tobias Myers slipped on the mound. With two outs, Michael Busch laced a run-scoring hit up the middle.

Brewers time, TV, radio

The Brewers game starts at 7:05 p.m. Monday

TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620 and a state network

Brewers lineup

  • Brice Turang 2B
  • William Contreras C
  • Christian Yelich DH
  • Willy Adames SS
  • Sal Frelick RF
  • Jackson Chourio LF
  • Rhys Hoskins 1B
  • Joey Ortiz 3B
  • Garrett Mitchell CF

Cubs schedule

  • Nico Hoerner 2B
  • Michael Busch 1B
  • Seiya Suzuki RF
  • Ian Happ LF
  • Mike Tauchman DH
  • Dansby Swanson SS
  • Miles Mastrobuoni 3B
  • Miguel Amaya C
  • Pete Crow-Armstrong CF

Brewers schedule

Brewers at Cubs, 7:05 p.m. Tuesday. Milwaukee RHP Colin Rea (9-3, 3.77) vs. Chicago RHP Jameson Taillon (7-4, 3.10). Broadcasts: TV – Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620.

Brewers at Cubs, 1:20 p.m. Wednesday. Milwaukee TBA vs. Chicago LHP Justin Steele (2-4, 3.07). Broadcasts: TV – Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620.

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