Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski faced a tough night on Wednesday when his team played against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The 24-year-old right-hander, who is considered a Cy Young Award hopeful, had not allowed more than three earned runs in a start this season. However, the Cubs made him work hard, forcing him to throw 92 pitches in just four innings and tagging him for a season-high five earned runs on five hits and four walks. Despite this, Milwaukee emerged victorious with a 9-5 win over the Cubs, who wasted the offensive production they managed against Misiorowski.
Manager Craig Counsell expressed his thoughts on the game, stating, “It was a pass the line night against Misiorowski, and I thought that it was a pretty darn good job. Their bullpen pitched very well and kind of put the game in order. I thought we kind of swung the bats better than the results, but their bullpen did a really nice job.”
Cubs starter David Peterson struggled, putting his team in a 2-0 hole after the top of the first inning. Alex Bregman responded with a two-run home run in the bottom half, setting the stage for the back-and-forth swings through the first two innings. Bregman later hit a two-run go-ahead single in the second inning following Tyrone Taylor’s RBI single.
Reflecting on the game, Bregman noted, “I thought the guys did a good job of battling and trying to take some good swings on good pitches, and when the ball’s out of the zone, not swing. Just didn’t do enough after that.” He acknowledged the caliber of the opposing team, saying, “They’ve got a really good ball club over there, and it takes execution on our end to win these kinds of games, and we didn’t execute in all phases of the game the way that we should have today.”
The Cubs, who have been struggling with their pitching staff lately, saw Peterson depart after yielding six runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out four batters, commenting, “There was kind of a mixed bag with the stuff, just felt like I wasn’t getting ahead of hitters the way that I needed to, and the way that I usually do, and wasn’t executing to the level that I have been recently. So, credit to them. They put up good at-bats. But you get behind in counts, and the pitch count goes up and found ourselves in the spot that we were in.”
The Cubs received a boost from Nico Hoerner’s stellar diving catch in shallow left field with the bases loaded, preventing further runs and keeping the game at a one-run deficit. Covering 63 feet at a speed of 27.8 feet per second, Hoerner’s play was praised by Bregman, who said, “Oh, a huge play. Obviously an unbelievable defender and making a clutch play is huge, especially in that spot.”
Despite the good vibes from the Cubs’ blowout win on Monday night, they have suffered back-to-back losses, closing their window to contest the division lead with the Brewers, who are now nine games ahead. The bullpen, while not imploding, displayed suboptimal performance. Daniel Palencia gave up one run on two hits, pitching in back-to-back games since returning from the injured list. He had a minor scare when he tweaked his knee but continued in the game.
An alarming incident occurred in the ninth inning, when Cubs closer Jacob Webb took a 102.5 mph liner off his right forearm and immediately left the game in pain. Manager Craig Counsell confirmed postgame that Webb suffered a significant contusion, with X-rays showing no fractures.
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