Subscribe
Follow Us
The Milwaukee Brewers avoided what could have been a costly sweep at Wrigley Field by pulling out a 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday afternoon. The win pushed them to 80 on the season, the first team in Major League Baseball to reach that total in 2025.
The victory also ended Milwaukee’s three-game losing streak, its first since late April, and restored its lead in the National League Central to seven games with 34 contests remaining.
“That’s just what got us here, that scratch and claw mentality and staying true to ourselves,” said Isaac Collins, per Adam McCalvy. “That’s the biggest thing. I think sometimes when success comes your way, you kind of forget what got you there. Down the stretch here, it’s going to be huge for us to take it one day at a time.”
Brice Turang supplied the early offense with a two-run homer in the second inning off Cubs starter Shōta Imanaga, who otherwise dominated by retiring 16 of the next 18 batters and finishing with seven innings of three-hit, two-run ball on 98 pitches. Turang’s blast was his eighth homer of August and 14th of the season, already a career high.
The Brewers' bullpen carried the game after starter Quinn Priester struggled with command, allowing three hits, five walks, and a hit batter over 94 pitches. The right-hander exited in the fifth after loading the bases. Nick Mears entered and escaped with only one run allowed on a sacrifice fly by Pete Crow-Armstrong, preserving a 2-1 lead. From there, Mears, Grant Anderson, Jared Koenig, Abner Uribe, and Trevor Megill combined for 4 2/3 scoreless innings.
Uribe created drama in the eighth by walking the first two batters, but recovered with a strikeout and defensive help before Andrew Vaughn made a diving tag at first base to end the threat. Megill then closed the door with a clean ninth inning, recording his 30th save of the year.
The decisive blow came in the top of the eighth. With two runners on against reliever Ryan Brasier, Isaac Collins, hitless in his last 14 at-bats, lined a two-run single into right-center to put the Brewers up 4-1. It was his first hit since the birth of his son, Carter Michael.
“That one really felt good,” Collins said, acknowledging his struggles at the plate. “The results weren’t really showing up the last few days.”
The Brewers are now 15-0 in games Priester has pitched since May 30, including 12 starts, though his chance to set a franchise record for consecutive winning decisions remains on hold.
Cubs hitters drew eight walks but collected only four hits, continuing a troubling trend. Thursday was their 12th straight game with fewer than 10 hits, tying their longest streak from 2023. It was also the Cubs’ 4,000th loss at Wrigley Field since moving there in 1916, a span in which they hold a .534 home winning percentage.
Despite the Cubs taking the five-game set 3-2 and clinching the season series 7-6, giving them the tiebreaker if records are tied, the Brewers managed to limit the damage.
The Cubs will have to regroup as they begin a nine-game West Coast trip, now seven games back with no more head-to-head opportunities against Milwaukee.
