It was a game that would determine if the Brewers are either one or three games out of first place heading into their day off. Milwaukee continued to put pressure on the Chicago Cubs after a 5-1 victory at Wrigley Field last night. A 3-run, 9th by Manager Craig Counsell’s crew gave the Brewers some breathing-room, entering the Cubs final at-bat. Curtis Granderson homered, tripled and scored 3 runs to lead the offense and he says their offense has a way of “keeping-the-line-moving.”
Granderson says, “they’re not looking any further than the next game.”
Mike Moustakas says, “they just have to keep their nose-to-the-grindstone.”
Cubs manager Joe Maddon admitted “his guys are trying to negotiate a brutal schedule.”
Brewers starter Chase Anderson was pulled after 4 innings, allowing 3 walks, & 2 hits with 4 strikeouts. Reliever Jacob Barnes gave-up the only Chicago run in a third of an inning. But, the foursome of Corey Knebel, Joakim Soria, Josh Hader, and Jeremy Jeffress…blanked the Cubs on 3-hits over the final 4-and-2-thirds innings, with six strikeouts. While the Brewers enjoy the day off the Cubs have a makeup game against the Nationals in Washington D.C., starting at 3:05 this afternoon. Isolated thunderstorms are in the forecast. The Brewers will host Pittsburgh in a 3 game weekend series at Miller Park. The Cubs have the Reds at Wrigley Field.
NL Central Division
Pittsburgh Pirates 4, St. Louis Cardinals 3
Los Angeles Dodgers 8, Cincinnati Reds 1
NL Central NL Wildcard
Chicago Cubs – Milwaukee Brewers +2.5
Milwaukee Brewers -1.0 St. Louis Cardinals —
St. Louis Cardinals -3.5 LA Dodgers -2.0
Pittsburgh Pirates -12.0 Arizona Diamondbacks -4.0
Cincinnati Reds -22.0 Philadelphia Phillies -6.5