Bellinger saves the day as Cubs win series against Brewers |
CHICAGO - For the Chicago Cubs (71-62) to make the playoffs, let alone have playoff success, they need their starting pitching to step up. Justin Steele and Javier Assad are the least of the worries right now, but the rest of the rotation is a serious question mark. Fortunately, the Cubs have a seasoned veteran who knows what it is like to pitch the postseason.
That man is Professor Kyle Hendricks, who has given the Cubs all they could have asked for and more since returning from a shoulder injury. Squaring off against Brandon Woodruff and the Milwaukee Brewers (74-59) at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, Hendricks looked like the vintage Hendricks, but that shouldn't surprise you when you look at his success against Milwaukee. For his career, Hendricks has faced the Brewers more than 30 times and has posted an 11-8 record with a mid-3.00 ERA. He continued his success with six innings of one-run (no earned run) baseball on Wednesday as the Cubs rallied to take down Milwaukee 3-2. Hendricks was a bit shaky in the early going but managed to make the pitches he needed to grab the win. When it comes to Woodruff, he is the classic example of you may want to get to him early, or you may not get to him. That was the case in this one, as Woodruff struck out eight in six innings while yielding a pair of runs. Both of those runs came early in the game as Woodruff not only got stronger as the game went on but was lights out after the second inning. After stranding a pair of runners in the first, it was up to Woodruff to keep things close in the bottom of the first, but after walking Mike Tauchman to lead things off and hitting Nico Hoerner shortly after, the Cubs were in business as they had two runners on with no outs. Like in Tuesday's game, when Corbin Burnes was pitching, it was the Cubs coming through first as Ian Happ smoked an RBI double off the right field wall to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. They never trailed, with Dansby Swanson picking up a sacrifice fly shortly after to put the Cubs in front 2-0 after one. Still holding that lead in the third, Hendricks made the one mistake he would like to have back as he fielded a Christian Yelich dribbler only to throw it away for a costly two-base error. That error came back to bite Hendricks as William Contreras lined one past Cody Bellinger at first base to put the Brewers on the board. That was all the offense they could muster off of Hendricks as he settled in to keep the Hot bats of the Brewers in check. Like in the first, the Cubs offense kept the pressure on Woodruff again as Hoerner used a one-out infield single to reach base ahead of another hit-by a pitch to Happ. Looking for a big hit to extend the lead, Woodruff recovered and got through the rest of that inning without further damage the rest of the way. For as good as Hendricks was in his start, he did have to work around a ton of traffic, and the fifth inning was a primary case of that. With two outs in their half of the fifth, Contreras took several close pitches to work a walk before swiping second base to put himself in scoring position. Shortly after, Carlos Santana picked up an infield single, but Hoerner's diving attempt kept the ball from getting to the outfield and prevented another run from scoring. That proved pivotal and arguably one of the plays of the game as Hendricks retired the final four hitters he faced to get through six innings and turned things over to the pen. With both Julian Merryweather and Elvis Peguero tossing a scoreless seventh, things got interesting in the eighth as Mark Leiter Jr. was set to enter the game. Leiter Jr. didn't have his best stuff as Sal Frelick picked up an RBI single before a pair of walks to Willy Adames and Rowdy Tellez loaded the bases with two outs. That forced David Ross to go to his closer, Adbert Alzolay, a bit early and thrown into a tough spot. Riding an 18 consecutive save streak, Alzolay saw that come to an end as he hit Mark Canha to begin his outing, and just like that, things were back to even 2-2. Visibly frustrated, Alzolay did what he had done best as he got Brice Turang to fly out and ended what could have been a terrible inning. Considering Devin Williams hasn't pitched all week, Craig Counsell could have gone with him in the bottom of the eighth but instead went back to Joel Payamps. Things couldn't have gotten off to a worse start for Payamps as a costly fielding error allowed Christopher Morel to reach base and set the Cubs offense up. A Tauchman walk and Hoerner sacrifice bunt later, and the Cubs were in business as they had two runners in scoring position with one out. On the verge of a possible big inning, Payamps got Happ to ground into a fielder's choice, bringing the team MVP Bellinger to the plate. As he has done so much throughout the second half of the season, Bellinger shortened up his approach with two strikes and legged out an infield single to push home the go-ahead run as he picked up his MLB-leading 49th RBI since July 1. With a chance to close things out and pick up the win, Alozlay was in a tough spot as a fielding error allowed Andruw Monasterio to reach base before a double play erased the scoring threat. Alozlay continued to search for answers as he walked the next hitter he faced before a forceout to Santana ended the game and gave the Cubs a 3-2 victory. HEY CHICAGO, WHADDYA SAY? 🗣️ The win moves the Cubs to within three games of the Brewers for first place as they get set for a crucial four-game set with the Reds this weekend. Despite the win, the Cubs were outhit 5-3 as Bellinger, Happ, and Hoerner had the hits. At nine games above .500, this is the first time since the Cubs were nine games over in May of 2021. Hard. Fought. Series [W]in. 😤 Wins-day vibes 😎 pic.twitter.com/pROMzxNwKr The Professor gives Nico and Adbert an A+ pic.twitter.com/8VxsMv0NO8
The Cubs take 2 of 3 in a key series against the Brewers! 🍿👀
(via @Cubs) pic.twitter.com/CQ56UfBOlL
Bellinger: Go-ahead RBI
Happ & Swanson: RBI
Alzolay: W pic.twitter.com/4BkeqbH3Sl
