CHICAGO — The Brewers have been the chasers and they have been the ones being chased during their run of six postseason appearances in the past seven years. Cubs manager Craig Counsell knows all about those varied paths to the postseason because he was managing the Brewers for most of that time.
He knows which side he prefers, and it’s not the one the Cubs find themselves now as they attempt to chase the Brewers down.
“The other side is better,” Counsell said.
The Brewers got back to the good side of the ledger on Thursday, when second baseman Brice Turang continued his power-packed August with a two-run home run, All-Star closer Trevor Megill reached the 30-save plateau and Milwaukee became the first team in the Majors to bank 80 victories in a 4-1 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs took the marathon series, three games to two, and clinched the season series between the teams, 7-6, meaning the tiebreaker goes to Chicago in the event these teams finish the regular season with identical records. But by snapping their first three-game losing streak in more than three months, the Brewers headed back north having dropped only one game in the standings from the start of the week. They lead the National League Central by seven games with 34 remaining.
“To keep the swing at one, huge momentum shift in the clubhouse,” Megill said. “I think everybody around here feels that, too. Getting that last one today was super big.”
Now, the task is to keep subsequent games from getting too big. If they weren’t already, the Brewers will be the NL Central’s hunted the rest of the way.
“That’s just what got us here, that scratch and claw mentality and staying true to ourselves,” said Isaac Collins, whose lone hit in the series was a pivotal, two-run single in the eighth. “That’s the biggest thing. I think sometimes when success comes your way, you kind of forget what got you there. Down the stretch here, it’s going to be huge for us to take it one day at a time.”
Speaking of success, it was two of Milwaukee’s top recent performers who led the way, even though one of them didn’t have his best day.
The Brewers improved to 15-0 anytime Quinn Priester takes the mound since May 30, a stretch that includes 12 starts plus three bulk outings behind an opener, and 10 consecutive winning decisions for the right-hander — which remains tied with Chris Bosio and Cal Eldred for the longest winning streak for a pitcher in franchise history. Priester was positioned to break that club record on Thursday before his command faltered in the fourth inning and again in the fifth, forcing an early call to a bullpen that proved up to the task. Nick Mears, Grant Anderson, Jared Koenig, Abner Uribe and Megill covered the final 14 outs, with Mears setting the tone by limiting a bases-loaded, no-out jam to one run when he relieved Priester in the fifth.
The run support started with Turang, who drove a two-run home run against the Lake Michigan breeze in the second inning against Cubs starter Shota Imanaga. It was Turang’s eighth home run this month, more than he’d hit in either of his first two seasons in the big leagues.
And there was more from Collins, who was 0-for-3 on the day, 0-for-14 in the series and 1-for-his last 22 dating to the final at-bat of the day he was named NL Player of the Week on Aug. 11 before singling home two runs in the eighth with his first hit since the birth of his first child, a son named Carter Michael.
“That one really felt good,” Collins said. “The results weren’t really showing up the last few days.”
The same could be said for the Brewers, needed something to change the vibes. They’ve thrived in an underdog role over the years, but now they face the task of closing out a fourth division title in the past five seasons as mathematical favorites.
“I’m not even thinking about that, guys. I’m being honest,” manager Pat Murphy said. “You can’t even let your head go there. What you think about is the health of your team, their mental health, their physical health, and move ahead. ‘Here we go. Who do we play tonight?’
“If you think there’s another gear, that gear gets you into trouble. Then you’re tapping into your emotions, usually, and you’re trying harder. When you squeeze the egg too hard, what happens?”
That sometimes happens when frontrunners try too hard to hold on.
“The chasing creates a more singular focus and a more day-to-day urgency,” Counsell said. “When you’re managing on both sides of that, you notice what it does to your personnel, and how to use it in your team’s favor. You try to take note of that. You notice, human-wise, what it does to you.
“Look, if you want to win the division it’s going to be a tough fight. We’ve got work to do still, for sure. They’ve earned themselves a little lead, but we’re trying to make it tough on them.”
