Cubs do 'little things' that prove big in win over Brewers
MILWAUKEE — To get big results, good teams do the little things and do them well.
There were countless little moments Friday night as the Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers in 10 innings for a second straight night at Miller Park.
Pinch hitter Tommy La Stella walked with the bases loaded in the 10th inning against tired Brewers closer Corey Knebel, and the Cubs walked out of Miller Park with a 5-4 victory.
The Cubs' magic number for clinching the National League Central dropped one notch to 5, now over the second-place St. Louis Cardinals, who beat Pittsburgh. The Cardinals remained 5 games behind the first-place Cubs while the Brewers dropped into third place, 5½ games back.
“I'm so proud of the way our guys stayed there,” said manager Joe Maddon, whose team is 86-67. “They get hit a little bit to the solar plexus but we keep going. They were good the whole night. The attitude in the dugout is spectacular. We get behind and everything's going their (the Brewers') way, but not one guy felt down about it. That was wonderful to watch all that.”
The Cubs trailed 3-0 after two innings after starting pitcher John Lackey gave up a run in the first inning and back-to-back homers to Stephen Vogt and Brett Phillips in the second. Maddon yanked Lackey after only 4 plus innings, saying he didn't like the way the game was “trending.”
But after reliever Brian Duensing gave up a run in the fifth, Cubs relievers retired 13 straight, with Duensing, Hector Rondon, Mike Montgomery and Carl Edwards Jr. (5-4) getting it done.
Maddon then ticked off a list of “little things” that proved big:
• A 2-run single by Ben Zobrist in the fifth that gave the Cubs a 4-3 lead.
• That inning began with a 15-pitch at-bat by Jon Jay, who fought his way to a single. “This guy lives for these moments, I believe,” Maddon said.
• Addison Russell, who went into the game late, stayed with a tag in the 10th inning and caught baserunner Eric Sogard off the bag as Sogard attempted to advance on a pitch in the dirt with one out. Edwards retired Neil Walker on a flyout to end the game.
“Game on the line, kind of,” Russell said. “Really, in that situation, I'm just looking at Sogard to see what his first move is. We saw a ball down on the ground and in the dirt. I saw him break for the bag. He broke for the bag. Willy (catcher Willson Contreras) did a good job of seeing that whole play out, delivering the throw. Just made sure I kept the tag on him if he came off the bag.”
All of these things are boding well for a Cubs clinching party in the near future even though they're not looking that far ahead yet.
“When you talk about the biggest part is the little things, there you go — right there,” Maddon said.
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