The Milwaukee Brewers, thanks to three home runs and a huge bullpen showing led by rookie Jacob Misiorowski, are just a win away from their first trip to the NLCS in seven years.
The Brewers rolled to a commanding 7-3 win over the Chicago Cubs in Game 2 of their NLDS series on Monday night at American Family Field. That gave them a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series as it heads to Wrigley Field later this week. Misiorowski, a usual starter who was playing in his first career postseason game, was credited with the win after tossing three huge scoreless innings of relief.
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The Cubs, who fell 9-3 in Game 1, erupted right away on Monday night and seemed ready to bounce back in the series. Seiya Suzuki drilled a three-run homer in the first inning after Nico Hoerner singled and Justin Turner walked ahead of him.
But their lead lasted just a matter of minutes. The Brewers responded with Shota Imanaga on the mound for the Cubs, and Andrew Vaughn hit a three-run shot of his own in the bottom of the inning to tie the game up instantly.
William Contreras then gave the Brewers their first lead of the night in the third with a solo homer which ended Imanaga’s day after just 2 2/3 innings.
Jackson Chourio broke the game wide open in the next inning for Milwaukee. He hit the deepest shot of the night straight out through center field for a three-run home run of his own off Drew Pomeranz. That put the Brewers up 7-3. All seven of their runs came on home runs with two outs on the board.
Misiorowski came in to pitch three scoreless innings midway through the game for the Brewers after opener Aaron Ashby got roughed up in his 1 2/3 innings of work. Misiorowski helped settle things down after Chicago’s initial blast. He had 31 of his pitches top 100 miles per hour — which is the most by a pitcher in a postseason game in the tracking era. His fastest was recorded at 104.3 mph.
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Though they got off to a hot start, the Cubs simply couldn’t get another run across after the first innin. They finished with just four hits. The Cubs are the first team in MLB postseason history to hit a three-run home run in the first inning but not score again after that and lose the game, according to OptaStats.
Though it’ll take a huge rally to even force a Game 5, the Cubs will attempt to get that started next on Wednesday at home (5:08 p.m. ET/TBS, TruTV). If they can’t stop the Brewers, Milwaukee could get out of here with a sweep and earn some extra rest before the NLCS.
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