Brewers lose two of three at Wrigley against the Cubs, Eric Lauer speaks out on post-deadline clubhouse mood
It's getting late early in the NL playoff race.
That series was not what the doctor ordered. The Milwaukee Brewers, on the heels of crucial series split with the Los Angeles Dodgers, went into Chicago and lost two of three games to the struggling Chicago Cubs. That’s not what you want to see.
There were some positives. Freddy Peralta had his best start since coming off of the IL, Keston Hiura provided a spark in Game 3, and some reliable performers stepped up in big moments. However, this team can’t keep losing series’ to bad teams if they want to make the playoffs
The Brewers are now five games back of the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central, two games back of the San Diego Padres for the second NL Wild Card spot, and one and a half games back of the Philadelphia Phillies for the final NL Wild Card spot.
Next up is three more games against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Master Brewer Leaderboard (through 120 games)
(The Master Brewer Leaderboard is a season-long leaderboard tracking and ranking exceptional performances from Brewers players in the form of Master Brew Points 🍺, which at the end of the season will tally up to crown our Crewsing for a Brewsing Player of the Year.)
Keston Hiura 🍺
Keston Hiura is once again proving that he needs more at-bats as he continues to perform well in limited spells. Keston only started one game, but he went 2-for-4 with two crucial homers. His first homer tied the game in the 7th inning, while his second homer gave the Brewers some important insurance runs in their 5-2 win on Sunday.
Willy Adames 🍺
Adames brought some much needed consistency at the plate to this series. Adames went 4-for-11 with a couple of walks, a homer, one run, and four RBI.
Rowdy Tellez 🍺
Rowdy Tellez did what Rowdy Tellez does, he drew walks and he hit home runs. Tellez finished 2-for-11 with the two aforementioned homers and three walks. His homer on Sunday broke a streak of six innings of scoreless baseball for the Brewers, paving the way for Keston Hiura to tie things up with a solo shot of his own.
Christian Yelich 🍺
Yelich had a tough moment defensively this series, but he reliably got on base from the leadoff spot so he definitely earned a beer. Yelich’s batting line was 3-for-9 with two walks, one RBI, and three runs scored.
Freddy Peralta 🍺
This was Freddy Peralta’s most encouraging start since he has returned from the injured list. Fastball Freddy pitched six innings, allowed two runs on a Wilson Contreras homer, with five strikeouts, and three walks.
Brad Boxberger 🍺
Brad Boxberger has returned to form after a midseason slump. Against the Cubs, Box fired a pair of scoreless innings with no hits allowed and three strikeouts.
Leaderboard through 120 games
Rowdy Tellez: 🍺 x19
Christian Yelich, Corbin Burnes: 🍺 x14
Willy Adames, Andrew McCutchen: 🍺 x11
Hunter Renfroe, Jace Peterson: 🍺 x9
Devin Williams, Luis Urias, Brandon Woodruff:🍺 x8
Eric Lauer, Tyrone Taylor, Kolten Wong, Josh Hader: 🍺 x7
Keston Hiura: 🍺 x6
Aaron Ashby, Hoby Milner: 🍺 x5
Freddy Peralta: 🍺 x4
Brad Boxberger, Trevor Gott, Jonathan Davis, Victor Caratini, Jason Alexander: 🍺 x3
Matt Bush, Omar Narvaez, Adrian Houser: 🍺 x2
Taylor Rogers, Jandel Gustave, Brent Suter, Luke Barker, Peter Strzelecki: 🍺