Steele brilliant as Wisdom walks-off Brewers
Rick Scuteri - USA Today Sports

Steele brilliant as Wisdom walks-off Brewers
by - Senior Writer - Wed Mar 13 06:49:34 GMT-04:00 2024

MESA - It may only be Spring Training, but some Spring games mean more than others. With just over two weeks to go until things get real, the Chicago Cubs returned from their off day on Monday to host the Milwaukee Brewers in front of nearly 16000 fans at Sloan Park. With Craig Counsell leading the Cubs this season, expect this rivalry to be taken up a few notches this season, and you can already get a sense of that this Spring.

What made this game even better was that both teams elected to bring the A-team to the park, which included an incredible starting pitching match-up between Justin Steele and former Cub Colin Rea. Days after being named the opening day starter for the first time, Steele went out and looked like the ace the Cubs are hoping he can become this season, as he struck out nine in just over four innings of work.

Rea was equally as good with six strikeouts through four innings as it was the Cubs rallying from an early deficit to walk off the Brewers 6-5.

Steele was dialed in from the start and was charged with two earned runs in his outing, with both RBIs coming off the bat of William Contreas. The first of those came on a third-inning RBI double, which followed a leadoff single by Garrett Mitchell to give the Brewers an early 1-0 lead. Steele continued to dominate before being removed in the fifth following a leadoff Jackson Chourio single.

With Julian Merryweather now on the bump, the hard-throwing right-hander was on the verge of pitching out of a mini jam, only to have Contreras unload for a three-run blast as the Brewers opened up a 4-0 lead. Given how Rea pitched through four innings, you had to think four runs would be enough, but it was the Brewers' defense that helped the Cubs get back into the game, as a four-run fifth inning brought things back to even.

Known for his triple-digit heater and impeccable command, Abner Uribe didn't have his best stuff as a leadoff hit by a pitch to Michael Busch was just the beginning. Two batters later and it was David Peralta putting the Cubs on the board as his RBI triple made things 4-1. For Peralta, this was his Spring debut as he picked up a pair of hits with that RBI. Following that triple, Yan Gomes legged out an infield single to make things 4-2, while an error on the play saw him advance to second.

That proved pivotal on the next play, as Mike Tauchman grounded into what looked to be an easy force out, only to have Gomes get in the way of Willy Adames for the infield single. Another hit-by-pitch to Seiya Suzuki loaded the bases as Uribe continued to struggle. Things only got worse for the right-hander, with Cody Bellinger smoking one off the glove of Rhys Hoskins, and just like that, this game was tied 4-4.

Milwaukee didn't waste any time retaking the lead as a pair of singles to begin the sixth inning had Jose Cuas on the ropes. To his credit, Cuas was able to retire the next two hitters, but after walking Brice Turang, Cuas was looking for a big pitch to avoid the big inning. He seemed to make that pitch, but sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way as Joey Ortiz dropped an infield single in front of Christopher Morel as Milwaukee retook the lead 5-4.

Apparently, all it took for both offenses to get going was for both starters to come out of the game, as this became a back-and-forth affair. What started with a one-out double from Peralta off of new Brewers hurler Thyago Vieira turned into a 5-5 game as Gomes delivered another clutch knock to pull the Cubs even.

Miles Mastrobuoni then appeared to give the Cubs the lead only to have Chris Roller lay out to rob him of extra bases and kept things 5-5.

From there, it was a battle of the bullpens, with Mark Leiter Jr working around a mini jam in the seventh to keep the game tied before handing the ball to Keegan Thompson and Luke Little. Thompson also worked around a mini jam, allowing a pair of baserunners after striking out the first two hitters in the eighth. At the same time, Little continued his dominating Spring with another easy ninth inning.

With Vieira out of the game, Pat Murphy countered with Holby Milner in the seventh and Kaleb Bowman in the eighth as both men worked around base runners to send the game to the bottom of the ninth tied 5-5. Already knowing that this game wouldn't go into extras, Patrick Wisdom only needed a few pitches to finish things off as he crushed a James Meeker fastball over the left field fence to send the fans home happy as the Cubs walked off the Brewers 6-5 for their 10th win of the Spring.

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