The Milwaukee Brewers, even in a losing effort, take on their manager’s approach to the game as their own.
No matter the score, no matter the opponent, no matter the situation, they want to embody the message printed on the band Pat Murphy wears on his right wrist.
The Brewers showed it in the seventh inning Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field, although it ultimately wasn’t enough to overcome an early barrage by the Chicago Cubs’ bats against starter Tobias Myers in a 6-5 loss for Milwaukee.
“We continue to say that we’re in the fight until the last out is made,” Brewers outfielder Blake Perkins said. “It showed again today. I think we need to do a better job earlier in the game to kind of get on these (starters), all of us included. But I think it says a lot about us that we’re not going to back down just because we’re down late in the game. I love to see it.”
Trailing by five runs and being shut out at the outset of the seventh inning, the Brewers put their first five batters on base and cut the deficit to one.
The Cubs eventually wiggled out of that jam as well as another in the ninth to even the series while also moving to within one game of the Brewers for first place in the National League Central Division.
Blake Perkins hit a two-run home run in the seventh as Milwaukee’s offense hit for the cycle — Jackson Chourio singled, Sal Frelick doubled and Oliver Dunn tripled — as soon as Cubs starter Jameson Taillon left the ballgame.
It wasn’t enough to overcome a rough and abbreviated outing from Myers, who gave up a leadoff homer, walked four in a 37-pitch first inning and ultimately gave up two long balls in his three innings of work.
“Command wasn’t that good,” Myers said. “Nothing really felt great coming out. Adjusted a couple things in my delivery. Definitely something we can work on moving forward.”
Patrick Wisdom drove in the final two runs — which proved to be important — for Chicago with a solo homer in the sixth and bloop single in the eighth.
Wisdom’s second RBI hit came moments after it appeared reliever Bryan Hudson got him looking at strike three at the bottom of the zone for what would have been the second out of the inning. Home plate umpire Hunter Wendlestedt, however, didn’t give the call to the Brewers to, somewhat fittingly, wrap up a frustrating week as far as umpire relations go.
“Umpires have a tough job with balls and strikes. That’s a tough job,” said Murphy, who was back in the dugout Saturday after missing the previous two games while suspended. “You can pick out some every game that you wished you had and didn’t have, and I’m sure they do the same thing. I don’t want to get into it. That was unfortunate, it looked like. I haven’t seen the pitch and I’m not going comment on anything like that. But we had chances.”
That they did.
Milwaukee put together another threat in the ninth against Cubs closer Hector Neris but left the tying and go-ahead runners on base.
Perkins opened the frame with a five-pitch walk and moved to second on an infield single by Frelick that deflected off of Neris. William Contreras stepped to the plate with one out and drove in Perkins with a smash single to right, but the veteran Neris struck out Tyler Black swinging by getting the rookie to expand the zone, then induced a groundout from Willy Adames.
The young Brewers showed resolve once again, but moral victories don’t show up in the standings in the big leagues.
“I think they realize, ‘Wow this game comes down to pitches,'” Murphy said. “It comes down to executing pitches and winning pitches at the plate. Swing at strikes, take balls, like I always say. Playing defense, base running, little things. You can point to 10 things in today’s game that would’ve been the difference-maker.”
