Decision day: Happ home run makes history, gets Cubs off to fast start to force Game 5 Saturday
This has been a series of firsts for the Cubs and Brewers. That is, the first inning has meant more than any of the others.
That's why a typically common moment in Thursday's Game 4 at Wrigley Field turned out to be momentous.
Matthew Boyd did something that hadn't been accomplished before in this series — put up a zero in the first inning. He walked leadoff batter Christian Yelich, but ended the frame with no damage. In the first three games, both teams scored runs in their initial at-bats.
That was a vital first step as the Cubs pulled off a 6-0 victory to force a decisive Game 5 at 7:08 p.m. Saturday in Milwaukee.
“I thought the first inning was just so important tonight,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “Landing the slow breaking ball early in the count to get ahead I thought was the difference. It just puts the hitter on what Matthew is so good at — kind of that hard-soft combination that gets the hitter in-between.”
When it was the Cubs turn against Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta, they got a one-out single from Nico Hoerner, a walk to Kyle Tucker, then a 3-run home run by Ian Happ that landed deep in the right-field bleachers.
Happ was 3-for-35 lifetime against Peralta heading into that at-bat, but this was his second home run of the series against the Brewers ace. Happ also went deep in Game 1.
“I've had a ton of at-bats against him,” Happ said. “He's had my number quite a bit. But I got him in Milwaukee on a fastball so I knew he was going to go change-up to start the at-bat and it was probably going to be a lot more soft stuff. I was able to get a fastball in that at-bat to hit (on the third pitch after two change-ups).”
According to ESPN stats, the Cubs became the first team in MLB history to homer in the first inning of four straight games in a single postseason.
In the previous two games, the Cubs scored a combined 7 runs in the first inning and nothing after. This time, they tacked on a few runs, first with an RBI single by Matt Shaw to score Carson Kelly in the sixth.
Then Michael Busch and Tucker added solo home runs. Busch has now hit 4 homers in the postseason, which leads MLB. Tucker went deep for the first time since Sept. 2, the last time he played before going on the injured list with a calf strain. In the last two games, Tucker reached base seven times on four hits and three walks, a potentially significant development for the Cubs.
“I feel good,” Tucker said. “I'm swinging at pitches I want to swing at and laying off some of the other ones.”
Boyd was looking for a bounceback performance after not making it through the first inning of Game 1, when he tried to come back on just three days rest. He gave up leadoff walks in each of the first two innings Thursday, but completed four scoreless inning on 52 pitches.
Boyd came back out for the fifth inning and gave up a leadoff double down the right-field line by Sal Frelick. Blake Perkins followed with a walk and the runners were bunted to second and third.
With the bullpen getting busy, Boyd stayed in for a left-on-left matchup against Yelich and got a swinging strikeout for the second out of the inning. At that point, Boyd left the mound to a standing ovation. Daniel Palencia came in, threw one pitch and coaxed a pop up to shortstop from Jackson Chourio to end the inning with no runs scored.
With the late start, Cubs fans might have been a little more juiced up, so to speak, for this one. They were on their feet and chanting “Freddy, Freddy” in honor of Brewers starter Peralta throughout the first inning and into the second.
“It was a little different, I think, from pitch one today,” Pete Crow-Armstrong said. “Even crazier than yesterday or the wild card or anything. Me and JT (Justin Turner) looked at each other when they started chanting Freddy's name. That was a first for me. We keep talking about it, it's like having a 10th player out there.”
Counsell agreed with PCA's assessment of the atmosphere.
“The first thing I would say, the crowd was incredible tonight,” Counsell said. “I've never seen a baseball game like that. That was just amazing what they did tonight.”
Both teams are likely to use several pitchers in Game 5. Milwaukee will surely send Jacob Misiorowski out for at least a few innings, after he hit 104 mph in Game 2. It seems unlikely the Cubs would start Shota Imanaga again, after all the home runs he's given up, but anything is possible.
Crow-Armstrong was asked if there's more pressure on the Brewers for Game 5, with the Cubs gaining momentum.
“I don't buy into that stuff,” PCA said. “That's for you guys to talk about and the people in the stands. This was the best team in baseball this year. So we know what we've got to do. I don't personally buy into that, but I think there is a way to look at that productively from a clubhouse standpoint.”
Counsell said the day began for the Cubs with just a single goal.
“We get to pack our bags, man,” he said. “That's all we wanted to do today was pack our bags.”