MILWAUKEE — Andrew Vaughn hit a tiebreaking homer in the fourth inning and William Contreras and Brice Turang also went deep as the Milwaukee Brewers shook off their recent history of playoff frustration by beating the Chicago Cubs 3-1 in the decisive fifth game of their NL Division Series on Saturday.
The Brewers, making their seventh playoff appearance in eight years, earned their first postseason series victory since beating Colorado in a 2018 NLDS. Milwaukee was on the brink of its second World Series berth that year before losing Game 7 of the National League Championship Series at home to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Now the Brewers get another NLCS matchup with the defending World Series champion Dodgers, who defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in four games in the other NL Division Series. Game 1 is Monday in Milwaukee, when the Brewers chase their first pennant since 1982, when they were in the American League.
“A lot of people didn’t believe in it early on, and they continued to be relentless,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.
After losing shortstop Willy Adames in free agency and trading All-Star closer Devin Williams last winter, the scrappy Brewers finished the regular season with the best record in the majors at 97-65.
So it was perhaps no surprise that NL Central champion Milwaukee won with an all-hands-on-deck pitching approach in the final game against wild-card Chicago. Trevor Megill, Jacob Misiorowski, Aaron Ashby, Chad Patrick and Abner Uribe combined for a four-hitter, with Uribe getting six outs for the first multi-inning save of his career.
“You can call them the average Joes, but I say they’re the above average Joes,” Murphy said.
The win was especially sweet for Milwaukee fans because it came against the club’s biggest rival and knocked Cubs manager Craig Counsell out of the postseason.
Counsell grew up in the Milwaukee area, played for the Brewers and became the winningest manager in team history until he left for Chicago.
In the two seasons since Counsell’s departure, Brewers fans have booed any mention of his name when the Cubs visited American Family Field. They did it again Saturday, though the sold-out crowd appeared to include more Cubs supporters than in Milwaukee’s home wins in Game 1 and Game 2.
“I’m just really happy for them,” longtime Brewers star Christian Yelich said of Milwaukee’s fans. “They’ve stuck with us through some really tough losses over the years. And I know there was a lot for them in this series, just because of the rivalry, and I’m really happy that we were able to perform for them because they really deserve it.”
The Cubs forced Game 5 by winning two in a row at Wrigley Field. They were trying to become the 11th team to erase a 2-0 deficit and win a best-of-five playoff series, a feat the New York Yankees last accomplished against Cleveland in their 2017 ALDS.
“I’m disappointed. I’m sad,” Counsell said. “I think this team has done a lot to honor the Chicago Cub uniform. In the grand scheme of things, that’s how I feel.”
Homers produced all the runs in this winner-take-all game, with each of Milwaukee’s coming up with two outs.
Contreras hit a 300-foot shot to left-center off Drew Pomeranz in the first inning. Vaughn sent a 3-2 pitch from Colin Rea over the left field wall to break a 1-all tie, and Turang provided some assurance with a 400-foot drive to Andrew Kittredge in the seventh.
“We’re fighting back. That’s our mentality. We’re fighting back,” Vaughn said. “We’re going to hit someone else. We’re going to throw him right back.”
Chicago’s Seiya Suzuki greeted Misiorowski by sending a 100-mph fastball into the Cubs bullpen starting in the second inning, but that was the only run the rookie righthander allowed in four innings. Misiorowski struck out three, gave up three hits and walked none, earning his second win of the series.
He pitched three innings of shutout relief in Milwaukee’s 7-3 win in Game 2.
“It was crazy,” Misiorowski, 23, said. “It was a whirlwind and it was fun.”
The Brewers brought in Misiorowski in the second inning after Megill worked as an opener and retired the side in the first. The Cubs had totaled eleven first-inning runs through the first four games of the series, without ever going scoreless in the opening frame.
After Suzuki’s homerun, no more runs were scored on Saturday.
“We just didn’t do much. We had six baserunners. In scenarios like that, you’re going to have to hit home runs to score runs. They pitched really well,” Counsell said. “This team has very good pitching. It’s definitely a strength of the team. And that’s why they’ve won so many games.”
Chicago’s best threat came when it threw two on with nobody out in the sixth against Ashby, who had thrown 32 pitches in Milwaukee’s 6-0 Game 4 loss two nights earlier. Michael Busch hit a leadoff single before Ashby grazed Nico Hoerner with a pitch.
Ashby got Kyle Tucker to swing a 3-2 pitch for the first out. Patrick then came out of the bullpen and struck out Suzuki with a fly to left before Ian Happ struck.
“We didn’t do it today and that hurts,” Counsell said. “Man, it doesn’t feel good, but I think if you zoom back a little bit, we did some good things too.”
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