Cubs 5, Brewers 4: Knebel's walk leads to another painful loss

Another night, another gut-punch of a loss for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Closer Corey Knebel walked pinch-hitter Tommy La Stella with the bases loaded in the 10th inning, driving in the decisive run in a 5-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Miller Park on Friday night.

It was the third straight setback for the Brewers, who are now not only a season-high 5-1/2 games off the pace in the National League Central, but also are looking up at the St. Louis Cardinals (five games out) after they won in Pittsburgh.

The Cardinals also moved ahead of Milwaukee by a half-game in the chase for the second wild card. The Colorado Rockies defeated the San Diego Padres, 4-1 and lead the Brewers by 2 games.

"We've lost three tough games. There's no way around it," manager Craig Counsell said. "It's tough losing late. You always expend a lot when you lose late. We just haven't been able to put that next pitch or play or hit together to overcome it.

"We've got to deal with that. That's what happened. Tomorrow is a new day."

The beginning to the ninth was eerily similar to that of Thursday night's Cubs comeback, but this time with Javy Baez's head-first slide just beating Corey Knebel to the first-base bag in a 4-4 game.

Baez was initially called out by Chris Guccione, but after a review of 1 minute 12 seconds, the reversal put the go-ahead run on. Knebel responded by quickly inducing a double-play grounder, however, and then another groundout to end the threat.

Chicago relievers Mike Montgomery and Carl Edwards Jr. combined to strike the side out in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game to extras for the second straight night.

Counsell went with Knebel for the 10th, and he started by walking Kris Bryant. Anthony Rizzo, up next, singled and then Ben Zobrist was put on intentionally to load the bases.

Knebel struck out Leonys Martin, bringing La Stella to the plate. He worked a five-pitch walk to plate Bryant with the go-ahead run and elicit a roar from the pro-Cubs crowd of 40,116.

Knebel (1-4) got out of the inning from there, then the Brewers fell prey to some bad luck in the bottom half of the ninth.

BOX SCORE: Brewers 5, Cubs 4

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With one out and Eric Sogard on first, Edwards uncorked a wild pitch that Willson Contreras was able to keep in front of him. Sogard tried taking second, but his momentum just barely carried his hand off the bag while Addison Russell kept the tag on.

Sogard was called out, and a short review confirmed Dana DeMuth's ruling. Neil Walker then flew out to left and the Brewers had lost their second straight extra-innings game to their rival, third in four overall and 11th of 15 on the season.

"I still think I stayed on," Sogard said. "My fingers fell off the back half, and I went down on ground level. My stray finger, I thought, was against the bag. Obviously he can't see that, and checking the cameras after the game there was no evidence, I guess, to really overturn it.

"Just unfortunate. That's kind of how things have been going this series. But we're going to keep fighting. It shows what kind of team this is – we continue to fight and we're there with them every single game. We'll keep fighting and make the playoffs one way or another."

Sogard was asked if he thought Russell pushed his hand off the bag.

"It's tough to tell when it's all happening," he said. "It was close. He kept the tag on me; I don't know if there was any force behind it."

As for pitching Knebel two innings, and for the fourth time in five games, it's all hands on deck at this point.

"It's certainly not ideal," Counsell said. "With who they had coming up – and I think he threw nine pitches the first inning – that's where the decision sat. We certainly didn't go in expecting two innings.

"There's risk in that but it's the best chance to put up a zero and hit again. He's our best guy to put up a zero."

If there's a positive, it's thtat the Brewers won't have to wait long to try to bounce back with a 12:05 p.m. nationally televised start on Saturday.

"The last two games have been tough," said Travis Shaw. "I mean, they're defending World Champions for a reason. They've been in these type of games. For us going through it, there are a lot of first-timers right here.

"But at the same time, we've had numerous opportunities to win these two games. We've kind of let it slip away. The only thing we can do now is come back tomorrow. If we play winning baseball the rest of the way, we still have a chance."

Ryan Braun, who came in having gone a combined 0 for 9 while leaving a total of 12 runners on base in the previous two games – both close losses – wasted no time cashing in on his first opportunity of the night.

After Walker doubled off John Lackey with one out in the first, Braun followed with a single to right to give the Brewers the quick lead.

He then turned around and chipped in with a terrific defensive play to rob Zobrist of a hit to open the second, making a laid-out, diving grab on a sinking liner as rookie starter Brandon Woodruff sailed through two initial scoreless innings while topping out at 97 mph with his fastball.

Consecutive two-out homers by Stephen Vogt and rookie Brett Phillips in the bottom of the second upped Milwaukee's lead to 3-0. It marked the eighth time this season consecutive batters went deep for the Brewers.

Phillips' shot, which landed halfway up the second deck, measured 428 feet and gave the Brewers 217 homers on the season – second-most in franchise history. The franchise record is 231 homers, set in 2007, while the 1982 team had ranked second with 216.

Three former St. Louis Cardinals teamed up to get the Cubs on the board in the third, with Jason Heyward singling to open the inning, Lackey bunting him to second and Jon Jay doubling to right to make it 3-1.

Bryant followed with a broken-bat, bloop single to center to score Jay. Woodruff then walked Rizzo, but a tremendous diving catch by Sogard in short left field robbed Zobrist again to keep Milwaukee in front.

Zobrist would get his revenge later.

First, he turned the tables with a terrific running catch to rob Domingo Santana of a two-out, bloop RBI single in the bottom of the third, corralling the ball while running with his back completely to the infield.

Then in the fifth, he chopped a two-RBI single to center to give the Cubs their first lead of the night at 4-3. The inning was started by the pesky Jay, who worked Woodruff for a 15-pitch at-bat and fouled off 10 consecutive pitches before dropping his hit in front of Santana in right.

"That was tough," said Woodruff of the Jay at-bat. He wound up throwing 27 of his 92 pitches in that fifth as a result.

"I was throwing some good pitches, he was fighting them off. But that's a guy who's been around a long time, and he's seen just about everything thrown at him. But that's how it goes sometimes."

Woodruff then hit Bryant, and Rizzo moved the runners into scoring position with a ground ball to the left side to set the table for Zobrist.

A leadoff single by Sogard in the bottom half chased Lackey, but Brian Duensing erased it quickly by getting Walker to ground into a 5-4-3 double play. That brought up Braun, who rifled a double down the first-base line, and Shaw followed with another to the gap in left-center to pull Milwaukee back even.

With Woodruff done after five, left-hander Josh Hader pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings behind him and Anthony Swarzak followed Hader to finish a scoreless eighth.

BEHIND THE BOX SCORE

* The Brewers on Friday offered an update on minor-leaguer Julio Mendez, who has been hospitalized since being hit by a pitch and suffering a cardiac event in a rookie Arizona League game on Aug. 26.

“At the request of his family, Julio has been transferred to a hospital in his home country of Venezuela, where he remains in critical but stable condition," general manager David Stearns said. "We continue to send our thoughts and prayers to Julio and his family in this very difficult time.”

STAT SHEET

* The Brewers have scored 105 runs in the first inning this season, their highest total in any single frame this season. It's their highest total since 2011, when they scored 106 runs in the first.

* Milwaukee has 111 homers at Miller Park this season, third-most in franchise history. They hit 121 in 2007 and 119 in 2012.

 RECORD

This year: 81-73 (43-36 home; 38-37 away)

Last year: 69-85

ATTENDANCE

Friday: 40,116

2017 total: 2,377,189 (31,279 avg.)

Last year: 2,251,440 (28,499 avg.)

NEXT GAME

Saturday: Brewers vs. Cubs, 12:05 p.m. Milwaukee LHP Brent Suter (3-2, 3.41) vs. Chicago RHP Kyle Hendricks (7-5, 3.22).  TV: Fox. Radio: AM-620.