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Fly the W: Cubs blank Brewers to win series
David Banks - USA Today Sports

Fly the W: Cubs blank Brewers to win series
by - Senior Writer - Sun May 05 17:55:30 GMT-04:00 2024

CHICAGO - It has been a while since Wrigley Field felt like a playoff game this early in the season. However, with the Milwaukee Brewers (20-13) and Chicago Cubs (21-14) battling it out for first place, this weekend was full of excitement for what should be a great battle all season long.

After splitting the first two games of this series, the Brewers turned to their Ace Freddy Peralta as he opposed Javier Assad. Since August 1 of last season, Assad has been the best pitcher in baseball, which is a surprise when you look at how he goes about his business on the mound. Assad isn't a high strikeout pitcher, but instead is a rare breed of someone who allows plenty of traffic on the bases, but manages to find ways to avoid damage.

Assad continued to do his thing on the mound, giving the Cubs six more shutout innings to lower his ERA to 1.66.

As he went toe to toe with Peralta, despite Peralta holding the Cubs scoreless through four, things went south in a hurry. Peralta allowed three runs in the bottom of the fifth, which set the tone for the Cubs' 5-0 win.

This was the first game the Brewers had lost when Peralta started, but with a career-high six walks to five strikeouts, the Cubs did a great job of making him work. Neither pitcher had it easy most of the game. Each pitcher pitched into and out of trouble the first few innings, but it was the Brewers who wasted the best scoring chances, stranding multiple runners in scoring position.

They usually can get away with things like that when you look at how their offense has played this season, but with the Cubs pitching as good as it has been all season lately, those missed opportunities would come back to bite them. The Cubs didn't do themselves many favors early on either, as they ran into several outs on the bases, including one from Christopher Morel in the fourth inning as he was doubled off on a line drive to third.

That was about the only thing that went wrong for Morel on the day, as he walked a career-high three times and had an RBI hit. He seems to be getting back on track at the plate. With Assad working around another jam in the fifth, where a Blake Perkins single and a William Contreras walk put the pressure on, the Cubs offense finally broke through as they began to frustrate Peralta.

With Peralta struggling with his command, the Cubs got him out of the game after five innings. Before that, their offense finally started showing signs of life as an infield hit from Pete Crow-Armstrong set the offense up. PCA would eventually steal second while a hit by pitch to Miguel Amaya put a pair of runners on with one out. Looking for a rare clutch hit, Nico Hoerner delivered as his RBI double to right would be all the offense the Cubs would need as they took a 2-0 lead.

Hoerner would come around to score on a wild pitch later in the inning as the Cubs chased Peralta after five, leading 3-0.

That inning seemed to be what the Cubs offense was looking for, as they managed to score in each of the next two innings to put the game away. Dansby Swanson kept the line moving with a solo blast (4) off of Thyago Vieira to push the Cubs' lead to 4-0.

Looking at how things have gone with the Cubs and their bullpen this season, adding more runs is always critical, as no lead has been safe with them.

Don't tell that to Yency Almonte, who delivered arguably his best performance of the season in relief. Almonte got off to a horrible start this season but has continued to get better with each outing. After striking out the side in the seventh, he returned to work a scoreless eighth, and his ERA fell to 3.68. Offensively, the Cubs managed to push another run across, and they were able to get to the Brewers bullpen again.

This time, Janson Junk was on the mound as he allowed a one-out single to Mike Tauchman to put another runner on base. Tauchman would eventually get to second base before the Morel single brought him home to extend the Cubs lead to 5-0.

One inning later, it was the Cubs again keeping the pressure on as the Patrick Wisdom single and PCA walk put two more runners on base, only to have Junk keep things right where they were.

Down to their final three outs, it was up to Daniel Palencia as he was called on to pitch the ninth. Palencia has had an up-and-down career, but he is pitching the best he ever has in the past few outings. Palencia touched 100 MPH five times in his outing, resulting in soft contact and a pair of strikeouts as the Cubs closed out their first division series of the season with a win 5-0.

Chicago will continue their homestand on Monday when the San Diego Padres come to town as Justin Steele is expected to make his much-anticipated return.

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