MILWAUKEE — For the only time in the entire NL Division Series, the Chicago Cubs failed to score in the first inning.
They didn’t do a whole lot the rest of the night, either, as a parade of Milwaukee Brewers relievers silenced a lineup that was too reliant on the home run ball.
"We just didn't do much," manager Craig Counsell said after a 3-1 loss to Milwaukee in the winner-take-all Game 5 of their NLDS on Saturday. "We had six baserunners. You're going to have to hit homers to have any runs scoring in scenarios like that. They pitched very well. I mean, they pitched super well and we didn't."
Chicago was attempting to become the 11th team to erase a 2-0 deficit and win a best-of-five playoff series, a feat last accomplished by the New York Yankees against Cleveland in their 2017 ALDS. The Cubs forced Game 5 by pounding Milwaukee’s starting pitching, as they scored 11 first-inning runs in the first four games of the series.
Milwaukee responded by having All-Star closer Trevor Megill work as an opener Saturday. Megill retired the side in order in the first inning, preventing the Cubs from seizing the early momentum that had sparked their two victories back home at Wrigley Field.
After William Contreras homered off Drew Pomerantz in the bottom of the first, Chicago tied the game when Seiya Suzuki greeted Jacob Misiorowski with a leadoff homer in the second. Suzuki sent a 101.4 mph fastball into the Cubs bullpen to tie the record Milwaukee’s Jackson Chourio had set earlier in this series for the fastest pitch hit for a postseason homer since pitch tracking started in 2008.
But the Cubs didn't score again. Megill, Misiorowski, Aaron Ashby, Chad Patrick and Abner Uribe combined to allow only four hits and one walk.
“This (Brewers) team is loaded with very good pitching,” Counsell said. “It’s certainly a strength of the team. And it’s why they’ve won so many games. Misiorowski got four innings and got 12 outs for them, and that put the game in pretty good order for them. They pitched well. They did.”
Throughout the series, the Cubs depended on fast starts and the longball. They went 4 for 27 with runners in scoring position.
Nearly 70% of their runs during this postseason — which also included a Wild Card Series win over the San Diego Padres — came from homers. They totaled only six runs after the first inning in the NLDS.
“A couple of balls didn’t go our way,” first baseman Michael Busch said. “Give a little credit to the Brewers. They pitched really well.”
After Andrew Vaughn’s solo homer put the Brewers ahead 2-1 in the fourth, the Cubs did have one chance to rally. The Brewers handed the sixth inning over to Aaron Ashby, who had thrown 32 pitches in Game 4 two nights earlier.
Busch delivered a leadoff single and Nico Hoerner was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with nobody out. But then Ashby struck out Kyle Tucker before Patrick retired Suzuki on a deep fly to left and struck out Ian Happ.
“That was the inning,” Counsell said. “That was the inning with the middle of the lineup up. Ashby made a pretty darned good pitch, 3-2 to Tucker. Looked like right down and away on the corner. It was a nasty pitch. Seiya had a good at-bat against Patrick for sure, had good at-bats all night, Seiya did. And then they got out of it, essentially.”
The loss ended a season in which Counsell believed his team “did a lot to honor the Chicago Cub uniform.”
The Cubs went 92-70 — their first season with 90-plus wins since 2018 — and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2020. They won three elimination games at home this postseason before their season finally ended in Milwaukee.
“When you look back on the body of work this year, there’s a lot to be proud of,” reliever Andrew Kittredge said. “It’s always tough to get eliminated. There’s only one team that wins it at the end of the year. There really aren’t any moral victories either in this game. It stings, and it’s going to sting.”
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