Brewers’ 10th-inning collapse hands Cubs second home series loss

Brewers lose – Milwaukee lost 4-3 to Chicago in Sunday’s 10-inning game at American Family Field after Joel Kuhnel unraveled in the 10th and the Brewers stranded baserunners again. Christian Yelich called it a reminder that slumps are part of the season—even as Milwaukee’s l

Sunday started like a rematch of last month’s momentum. The Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs had already traded punches across the season, and after the Brewers took the first four games of their series—including three straight at Wrigley Field last month—the script briefly looked familiar.

Then the home turf turned unforgiving.

On Sunday, the Brewers fell 4-3 to the Cubs in a 10-inning defeat at American Family Field. The swing came late, after a 10th-inning meltdown by Joel Kuhnel handed Chicago just enough cushion to survive. It was Milwaukee’s second series loss on its home field in over a month. a painful turn for a team that still holds a healthy 5½-game lead in the Central Division standings.

Christian Yelich tried to steady the moment with perspective. “You know it’s going to be big games anytime we play each other,” he said. “It was a good series. We didn’t play our best, but credit to them.”

But the painful part wasn’t the rivalry. It was the timing—and how quickly the at-bats flipped.

Kuhnel recorded the first two outs in the 10th, then lost the zone. He followed that with 11 straight balls as the Cubs worked their way to a 2-1 lead. Seiya Suzuki’s two-run single shortly thereafter ended up being the clincher.

Kuhnel wasn’t the only reason Milwaukee couldn’t hold on. The Brewers’ offense had been sputtering for the better part of a week, and Sunday’s problem showed up in the baserunning math as much as the scoreboard.

Milwaukee went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight baserunners heading into the 10th. Their lone run came early—Gary Sánchez hit a solo home run in the second inning—yet when the game began to narrow, the Brewers couldn’t cash in.

In their final at-bat, Milwaukee finally pushed the pressure back. Yelich singled to bring Joey Ortiz in, narrowing the score to 4-2. Jackson Chourio walked, Brice Turang singled to load the bases, and pinch-hitter Garrett Mitchell drew a walk from Jordan Wicks to make it 4-3.

From there, the Brewers needed one clean swing.

Jake Bauers stepped in and fouled out to Ian Happ in left field on the first pitch he saw. Then Sánchez did the opposite of what Milwaukee needed: he hit a sharp ground ball to Alex Bregman at third base for a tailor-made, game-ending double play.

For this series, the Brewers finished 5 for 28 with runners in scoring position and stranded 21 total baserunners. In the sweep of the Cincinnati Reds on the road that came before this—Milwaukee’s prior series—they went 6 for 51 with 42 runners stranded.

Still, the bigger season picture has been stronger than the last few innings.

For the year, Milwaukee ranks fourth in the major leagues with a .270 average with runners in scoring position.

Yelich said the key is surviving stretches like this without changing who the team is. “You go through stretches like that throughout the season,” he said. “You’re going to have times where things just aren’t going well for you. You’re not doing a good job with runners in scoring position. you’re not doing a good job with guys on third and less than two outs.”.

He added that frustration is real—but so is the calendar. “Unfortunately. you’re going to have some rough spots like that and you’ve just got to get through them as a team. We’ll be all right. It’s part of a season. It’s rocky. It’s never smooth. There’s going to be some hard times and we’re in the middle of one of those right now.”.

Milwaukee has also managed to win games even when offense has struggled. “We’ve won some games while being bad (offensively) which is fortunate. because usually it doesn’t go that way. ” Yelich said. “It’s part of the year. We’ll be fine coming out the other side, but obviously frustrating right now.”.

What made Sunday sting even more was how close Milwaukee came in other high-leverage spots.

In the third inning, David Hamilton and Yelich singled consecutively with one out, then Chourio and Brice Turang struck out against Brewers retread Bryse Wilson.

In the fourth, Andrew Vaughn led off with a triple into the right-field corner. Bauers and Sal Frelick followed with groundouts, sandwiched around a Sánchez popout.

Milwaukee’s last chance in regulation came in the ninth. Sánchez walked and Frelick singled, but rookie Cooper Pratt struck out on four pitches from Jacob Webb, and Ortiz struck out on three pitches. Yelich called those moments exactly the kind that linger.

“Trying harder and wanting it more isn’t going to make it happen,” Yelich said. “Obviously everybody wants to get the job done. There is no right answer for how to do that; often times you’ve got to slow that down and try to focus. The other teams knows what they have to do to execute in that situation too.”.

He described the feeling of being in a slump as worse in the middle than it looks from the outside. “We’re just going through a rough stretch of it,” he said. “We’ve been really good at it at times. Right now we’re in one of those times where we’re really bad at it. We’ll come through the other side of it and things will start getting back to normal.”.

When the clock finally ran out, he didn’t try to dress it up. “But when you’re in the middle of it, it’s obviously much more frustrating,” he said. “It seems a lot worse than it is. Obviously, it’s not ideal. You feel like you kind of left one out there today, but it is what it is.”

“It’s part of a season and you’ve just got to keep grinding through it.”

Even with the loss, Milwaukee out-hit Chicago 10-4 in the finale.

Brandon Woodruff carries over his success

If the late innings were difficult, Milwaukee’s starting pitching offered a steady counterpoint. Brandon Woodruff wasn’t as dominant as he was in shutting out the Reds over six innings his last time out, but he still kept the Cubs off the board in his 5⅔-inning start.

Woodruff allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out 16. Since being reinstated from the injured list on June 22, he has allowed only two hits and two walks while striking out 16. His season ERA is 2.59.

Woodruff said he felt himself getting sharper physically and mechanically as the game went on. “Starting to get in a good spot mechanically and physically with the way I feel,” he said. “It was good. Just trying to command the zone and change speeds. That’s a tough lineup. a veteran lineup. so anytime you face those guys you’ve got to be on your A game.”.

He added that maintaining rhythm is the work now. “But I feel like I’m getting in a good rhythm and now it’s just all about maintaining it.”

He allowed two baserunners over his first five innings: a Miguel Amaya double and a Pete Crow-Armstrong walk both came in the third. In the sixth. Woodruff walked Crow-Armstrong again with one out and was pulled one batter before being able to complete the sixth; Aaron Ashby came on to strike out Michael Busch.

Stepping back, Woodruff’s effort fit into a larger rotation run. Over the last 16 games, Milwaukee’s pitching has posted a 1.87 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP with 111 strikeouts, holding opposing batters to a collective .156 average.

Yelich pointed directly to the group behind him. “They’ve been doing a great job,” he said. “They’re the reason why we’ve won some of these games in this stretch. They’ve been great for us for years. Those guys have been stepping up. We’ve been asking a lot of them and asking a lot of the ‘pen.”

Statistical midway point

The loss didn’t erase where Milwaukee stands. After 81 games, the Brewers are 50-31, and the 50 wins are their most ever at the midway point.

Milwaukee’s division lead remains the second-largest in baseball behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 10-game cushion in the NL West. Their plus-120 run differential trails only the Dodgers’ mark of 152.

Veterans are delivering and young players are stepping up, and at this point there’s not much to quarrel about—except for the reality that nothing in the standings protects a team from a stretch of missed chances.

Yelich said the current record isn’t the end of the story. “I think we’ve done all right,” he said. “Obviously we haven’t played bad. but I don’t think we’ve played to the level we’re capable of when we put it all together. We’ve kind of figured it out and found ways to win. but I wouldn’t say that we’ve done the best job that we could do or played the best that we can play.”.

“There’s room for a lot of us to do better, and we will,” Yelich said. “We’ve gotten ourselves a good opportunity but right now where we’re at means nothing. There’s so much season left you’ve just got to keep going and keep trying to get better every day.”

Milwaukee Brewers Chicago Cubs Joel Kuhnel Christian Yelich Seiya Suzuki Brandon Woodruff American Family Field Central Division standings runners in scoring position