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 On Friday night, their first game since being eliminated from
postseason contention, the offense managed to fill the bases but
failed to clear them, stranding 11 runners in a 6-4 loss to the
Chicago Cubs in front of an announced crowd of 39,880 at Miller
Park.
Milwaukee got three hits from Jean Segura, who finished a triple shy
of the cycle to improve his average to .323 during September, and
two from center fielder Carlos Gomez. But the Brewers were just
2-for-18 with runners in scoring position.
"We had a lot of guys on base, which is a good thing," Brewers
manager Ron Roenicke said. "You just have to be able to get some
hits and get them in. Kind of the same thing."
The Cubs continued to torment their division rival, taking a season
series for the first time since 2010. Chicago has won four in a row
and five of the last six against the Brewers, who led the division
for 150 days but suffered a major blow when they were swept in three
games at Wrigley to open September.
Left fielder Chris Coghlan led the Cubs' offense, collecting two
hits while reaching base and scoring three times. He started things
with a game-opening home run off Brewers right-hander Jimmy Nelson.
Nelson, starting in place of right-hander Matt Garza, returned to
the rotation for the first time since Sept. 7 and was charged with
five runs, six hits and a walk with four strikeouts in 4 1/3
innings.
He was chased in the fifth inning after an RBI double by shortstop
Javier Baez, who went 3-for-5, scored two runs and also drove on
two.
"It's a tale of two seasons for me," said Nelson, who was 10-2 with
a 1.46 ERA for Triple-A Nashville when he was called up July 10. "I
had a great first half. I know what I was doing mechanically,
physically and mentally. That's something I'm going to get back to.
"I've had the most frustrating and disappointing second half of a
season I've ever had. I'm just going to take the good things I
learned here. I learned a lot here from the veteran guys and from
experience. I'm going to use that as motivation to go into this
offseason and work harder than I did last offseason. I know I'll
come into spring training ready to go."
In all, the Cubs pounded out nine hits against five Brewers
pitchers.
"We did some good things," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said. "We had
some good at-bats. This was truly a team victory; everything kind of
fell into place and everybody kind of picked up some slack and did
what they needed to do."
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Rookie left-hander Eric Jokisch made his first career start and went
four innings for the Cubs, allowing two runs -- only one earned --
three hits and four walks.
"(Jokisch) was having a little trouble commanding his fastball and
his pitch count got up a little bit, but he was able to get through
those four innings," Renteria said. "We were hoping to max out with
him at 90 pitches and I think he got to 85 or 86. He did a nice job
of getting us through four.
"The rest of the guys ... it was a real nice finish."
The victory went to right-hander Neil Ramirez (3-3), who pitched a
perfect seventh inning, and right-hander Hector Rondon posted his
28th save of the season with a scoreless ninth.
NOTES: The Brewers retired uniform No. 1 on Friday in honor of
outgoing baseball commissioner Bud Selig. Selig, a Milwaukee native,
founded the Brewers in 1970 after purchasing and relocating the
bankrupt Seattle Pilots franchise. ... RHP Matt Garza was scratched
from his final start of the season because of soreness in his right
shoulder. ... Cubs manager Rick Renteria said RHP Jacob Turner would
start Sunday in the season finale in place of RHP Kyle Hendricks,
who worked more than 180 innings this season for both the Cubs and
Triple-A Iowa. ... Renteria also said he expected no changes to his
coaching staff during the offseason. ... With his team eliminated
from postseason contention, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said he
would use the final three days to get better looks at some of the
young players on the roster, including INF Hector Gomez, who started
at third base and INF Jason Rodgers, who was at first base Friday.
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