The first inning has not been kind to Chicago Cubs starting pitchers in the National League Division Series.
The Milwaukee Brewers delivered a gut punch in the opening frame during the first two games of the series. A strong shutdown first inning in Game 3 on Wednesday at Wrigley Field felt like a must for starter Jameson Taillon. The importance of that wasn’t lost on manager Craig Counsell, either, with the Cubs on the brink of elimination.
“Look, I think a zero would help for sure,” Counsell said of Taillon pregame. “We put ourselves in a great spot back to even in Game 2, put ourselves in a huge hole Game 1. Really played with a lead in one of these games in the playoffs so far. Game 3 (of the wild-card series) was really the only game we played with a lead for more than half the game.
“I think playing with a lead obviously is going to make pitching decisions always a little different. So part of that is putting up a zero in the first inning.”
While Taillon didn’t deliver a zero, the veteran right-hander avoided a momentum-shifting first inning, and the offense broke out in the bottom half to put up four runs that would hold in a 4-3 victory to force Game 4 on Thursday at Wrigley.
In the game’s biggest moment, reliever Brad Keller snuffed out the Brewers as they were threatening to take the lead. Keller entered with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning as the Cubs desperately tried to hold on to their one-run lead. Keller struck out Jake Bauers on four pitches to set off the 40,737 fans in the stadium.
Taillon managed to keep the damage minimal in the opening frame despite first baseman Michael Busch losing a popup in the sun that fell for a hit to load the bases with one out. A sacrifice fly and flyout ended the first inning, and Busch quickly avenged the miscue.
Against a stiff wind blowing in, Busch pulled a full-count cutter over the heart of the plate into the first row of the bleachers in right-center field to tie the game. It sparked four runs and helped knock out Brewers starter Quinn Priester after the Cary native recorded only two outs.
The long ball energized the crowd and gave Busch his second leadoff homer of the postseason. He’s just the fifth player in MLB history to slug a record two leadoff homers in a single postseason, joining Kyle Schwarber (2022), David Freese (2018), Ángel Pagán (2012) and Jimmy Rollins (2008).
Four of the first five batters reached base to begin the game for the Cubs, the only out coming on a spectacular catch on a ball heading toward foul territory by right fielder Sal Frelick. After getting “Overrated!” chants from Brewers fans during his at-bats in the first two games in Milwaukee, those shifted to “PCA!” cheers at Wrigley as Pete Crow-Armstrong turned on a slider Priester left over the plate for a go-ahead two-run single.
Brewers reliever Nick Mears, taking over for Priester, uncorked a wild pitch to score Ian Happ.
The Cubs forced the Brewers to throw 53 pitches in the first, the most by any team’s pitchers in the first inning of a playoff game since pitch-by-pitch data started being tracked in 1988, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
The Cubs’ four-run first inning snapped a streak of 13 consecutive playoff games in which they had scored three runs or fewer dating to the 2017 NLDS. It was the longest such streak in MLB postseason history, surpassing the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 12 straight playoff games (1916-41).
Bauers singlehandedly chipped away at the Cubs’ lead with an RBI single in the fourth and a solo home run in the seventh.
Seiya Suzuki continued his hot postseason, roping a double to the left-center field gap to open the third inning. The ball had a 117.3 mph exit velocity, making it the third-hardest-hit ball by a Cubs hitter, in the regular season or playoffs, in the Statcast Era (since 2015). Kyle Schwarber is the only Cub to hit one harder (117.6 and 117.4 mph, both in 2019).