Brewers' resiliency to bounce back from tough losses is being tested like never before

One of the best traits of the surprising Milwaukee Brewers – perhaps their best trait – has been their resiliency in bouncing back from tough losses.

But they’ve never been tested like this.

As if the walk-off loss in Pittsburgh the previous night weren’t bad enough, the Brewers let victory slip through their hands, not once but twice, in the ninth inning Thursday night in the opener of their huge four-game series against the Chicago Cubs at Miller Park.

As so often happens when you don’t take advantage of opportunities in regulation, the Brewers fell in the 10th inning, 5-3, on a two-run homer by Kris Bryant. Instead of pulling within 2 ½ games of the first-place Cubs in the NL Central, the Brewers dropped 4 ½ out with only nine games remaining.

To have even the slightest chance of overtaking the Cubs now, the Brewers have to win the remaining three games of the series. That would put them 1 ½ games back with six to play, leaving the door open.

But, more than likely, it’s wild card or bust now for the Brewers. The Colorado Rockies are practically begging them to take the second berth, losing their fourth game in a row Thursday night. By dropping consecutive heartbreakers, however, the Brewers remain one game out, with St. Louis only a half-game behind them.

GAME STORY: Two chances to win slip away in ninth

BOX SCORE: Cubs 5, Brewers 3 (10 innings)

MLB: Standings | Wild-card standings | Scores

“It’s two tough games (including the loss in Pittsburgh),” manager Craig Counsell said. “We’re still sitting, to me, in a pretty good spot. We can play well for the last nine days and still do something good.

“Every loss is going to be incredibly tough right now. A ‘W’ is all that matters, how you get it. We’ve got to wipe it away. We know we have a tough game tomorrow. They caught a break in the ninth with Baez’s ground ball that gets through, and we weren’t able to execute (in the bottom of the inning).

“It’s nine games. We’ve still got three against the team ahead of us in our division, and we’re one behind in the wild card. There’s a lot of opportunity and a lot to look forward to, in front of us.”

The Brewers could have won the game in either the top or bottom of the ninth inning but let both chances slip from their grasp. Jeremy Jeffress, serving as the emergency closer for an overworked bullpen, had two tough developments go against him, and on his 30th birthday, no less.

Ian Happ led off the ninth with a grounder wide of first that Neil Walker, who began the game at second base, ranged over to field. Jeffress, thinking Walker would hold the bag and allow second baseman Eric Sogard to field the ball, didn’t break immediately for first but still thought he got there a fraction ahead of Happ.

First base umpire Carlos Torres called Happ safe, however, and the call withstood a replay challenge, as bang-bang plays often do (the review umps in New York prefer not to overrule on-site umpires if there is no replay that clearly shows them to be wrong).

“I wasn’t surprised it wasn’t overturned,” Counsell said. “It felt a little slow at the end. I don’t know if J.J. was a little bit late. I’d have to look at it again. Happ hustled down the line and it’s a bang-bang play.”

Asked how he saw it, Jeffress said, “I thought I got him, definitely. It was bang-bang, but I felt like my foot hit first. I thought they could see it (on review). It was going to be bang-bang anyway. It was a lefty (hitter); the ball was rolling kind of slow. It didn’t really matter, I guess. I thought I got him, bottom line.”

Jeffress still had a chance to escape after Happ moved to second with two outs. He threw a 1-2 split-finger fastball below the strike zone that Baez reached down and got a bat on, sending a grounder up the middle where no infielder could get to it for a game-tying single.

“I had a lot of conviction on that pitch,” Jeffress said.  “I tried to go lower than low. I felt like that was the right pitch at the time. What are you going to do? I’ve had a lot of balls sneak through like that. The guy is a free swinger. He put wood on it.”

Jeffress was called upon in the ninth because closer Corey Knebel was unavailable after pitching in all three games in Pittsburgh. Anthony Swarzak and Josh Hader were off-limits as well. 

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As disheartening as that development was, the Brewers still had a chance to pull the game out when they loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Cubs manager Joe Maddon went to a favorite ploy – the five-man infield – leaving Domingo Santana to hit a fly ball against closer Wade Davis to win the game.

Santana, who came up big earlier with a home run and double that led to the tying run in the eighth, failed this time, striking out on a high fastball out of the strike zone. Davis then fell behind in the count, 3-1, to Orlando Arcia but came back to retire him on a comebacker, giving the Cubs new life and momentum.

“The strikeout there hurts you,” said Counsell, whose club has had difficulty putting balls in play often in those situations. “He had an at-bat where he chased out of the (strike) zone a couple of times. The strikeout hurts you right there.

“You don’t put it in play and it puts the pressure on the next guy. Arcia had a decent at-bat, got to 3-1… Davis threw two strikes after 3-1 and did a good job, and they got out of the inning.”

At that point, you had the feeling this would end badly for the Brewers, and it did.