Cubs 8, Brewers 4: Back to reality

CHICAGO – Those good feelings generated by the Milwaukee Brewers' shutout of the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday?

They lasted all of about 24 hours.

The Brewers were brought back to reality quickly on Wednesday afternoon, as a rocky start by Junior Guerra, some sloppy defense and some seeing-eye hits by an opportunistic Cubs offense paved the way to an 8-4 loss at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs scored four times in the first three innings against Guerra, who pitched a season-low 3 2/3 innings, and by the time all was said and done the Brewers found themselves heading to St. Louis in the same position they were when they arrived in Chicago -- three games back in the Central Division.

"It felt like two different games," said Guerra. "(Jhoulys) Chacín went deep into the game and today it kind of flipped on us. They were able to score early and turn the game on us."

The Cubs snapped their 27-inning scoreless streak against the Brewers in the first, when Anthony Rizzo lined a two-out, two-run homer that barely cleared the basket in left-center.

BOX SCORE:Cubs 8, Brewers 4

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Chicago doubled its lead to 4-0 in the third, with Jason Heyward doubling in the first run and then David Bote scoring on Guerra's second wild pitch of the inning.

The Brewers might have been able to limit the damage to one run had manager Craig Counsell chosen to challenge first-base umpire Ryan Blakney's safe call on a two-out grounder by Rizzo that Eric Thames booted.

Guerra, covering first on the play, appeared to tag Rizzo on the shoulder before he crossed the bag. But Counsell, whose record on replay challenges this season was 4-19 coming in, didn't ask the umpires to review the play.

"I’ll have to look at that one," said Counsell. "We obviously got the safe call on it. I think there was some talk that there was a possible tag."

Guerra said he thought he tagged Rizzo in time.

"I was a little surprised because I knew I tagged him," he said. "But at the same time you know they have different angles and they probably don’t want to waste a challenge if they didn’t think it was clear."

Consecutive two-out doubles by Travis Shaw and Jonathan Schoop off Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks got Milwaukee on the scoreboard in the fourth, then a single to right by Thames and nice slide into home by Schoop made it 4-2.

But the wheels quickly came off in the bottom half of the frame, with Chicago scoring three more times on five singles and chasing Guerra in the process.

It was in that inning that the Brewers were burned both by the shift, the lack of range up the middle with Schoop at shortstop and Shaw at second base, and Shaw losing a routine pop fly in the sun because he didn't have sunglasses on.

The right-hander was tagged for a career-high-tying nine hits, a season-high seven runs (six earned) and a walk while striking out two in a 58-pitch outing.

"Junior didn’t pitch poorly at all," Counsell said. "They hit it where we weren’t. We had a couple plays to get him out of an inning and we just didn’t make them. Junior did not pitch poorly.

"Rizzo hit a ball hard for the home run, obviously, but they got a lot of ground balls through. Just couldn’t get an out for him."

Ryan Braun, who was 0 for 2 after his two-homer game Tuesday and failed to come up with a sliding catch on Heyward's double in the third, was lifted from the game in the fifth due to right rib-cage tightness.

Braun is being listed as day to day by the Brewers. A jammed shoulder suffered by Manny Piña later in the game left the catcher to return to Milwaukee, where he'll undergo testing Thursday to determine the severity.

"I felt the shoulder moving around a little bit and it popped back," he said. "But I feel good right now. A little sore. We’ll see tomorrow."

The Brewers had a last gasp in the seventh when they loaded the bases and scored a pair with one out to pull to within 7-4. But Cubs manager Joe Maddon played the matchups and got Shaw to pop out and Schoop to fly out to end the threat.

Albert Almora Jr.'s homer to left off Corbin Burnes in the seventh capped the scoring.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

THE BOOK ON THOMPSON: General manager David Stearns said the trade for right-hander Jake Thompson on Tuesday was once again about adding to the organization's pitching depth. Thompson was optioned to Class AAA Colorado Springs, and has an option remaining for 2019 as well.

"We look at him as another quality arm that adds to our depth, similar to Jordan Lyles," Stearns said. "He has experience starting and relieving. We’re going to look at him primarily as a reliever at this point. He’s another arm with options that we think can really give us another guy to add to this (group)."

FUNNY COINCIDENCE: In acquiring Thompson, the Brewers now have all three players from a 2014 trade between the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers in their organization. Two other relievers, Corey Knebel and Joakim Soria, were included in that deal as well.

"We accomplished the trifecta," Stearns said with a laugh. "It is very strange. If Jake gets up here at some point, they can all sit down and have a conversation about it."

SO FAR, SO GOOD: Right-hander Freddy Peralta is at 117 1/3 innings for the season between his time with the Brewers (56 1/3) and the minor leagues (61). His previous career high is 120, set last season, and the organization generally doesn't like to increase young pitchers' workloads more than 20% from year to year. With that in mind, Stearns said there is no shutdown looming for the talented 22-year-old. 

"We’re pretty comfortable with where he is innings-wise," he said. "We still have a little bit of leeway to go with him, so we’re not particularly concerned there. Really, his innings are going to be more determined by performance and where we think he fits best on the team."

WAITING FOR SCHOOP TO GET GOING: Stearns admitted he didn’t think Jonathan Schoop would take so long to get going at the plate after being acquired from Baltimore on July 31. After going 1 for 4 on Wednesday, Schoop was batting .159 with 17 strikeouts in 44 at-bats with no HRs and three RBI.

“I think we’re surprised,” Stearns said. “Look, anytime you take someone from an environment that they’re accustomed to and you put them in a different environment for the first time – in this case changing organizations for the first time, being in a pennant race – this is a possibility. We still think he’s a really talented player. We still think he’s going to help us, and we’re going to give him opportunities to do that.”

HARD-CHARGING CARDS NEXT: Much was made of the two-game series against the Cubs but the Brewers are playing the hottest team in the division next with three games in St. Louis, beginning Friday. Entering Wednesday, the Cardinals had won seven in a row to pull within two games of the Brewers. Matt Carpenter has led the charge with an insane power pace since the all-star break -- .790 slugging percentage and 14 home runs in 26 games.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Counsell said of the Cardinals’ charge. “We knew there’d be teams there at the end that we’d have to beat in addition to the Cubs. (Carpenter) is on a great run. He’s been on some great runs before and he’s a really good player.”

RECORD

This year: 68-55

Last year: 63-60

COMING UP

Thursday: Off day. Friday: Brewers at Cardinals, 7:15 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Freddy Peralta (5-3, 4.47) vs. St. Louis RHP Jack Flaherty (6-6, 3.22). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.