Inside The Cubs

The Biggest Moments From The Cubs' NLDS Game 3 Win Over Milwaukee Brewers

Key plays that swung the game as the Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 in Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Wednesday.
Benjamin Rosenberg|
Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

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Pete Crow-Armstrong was less than 48 hours removed from slamming his bat, helmet and batting gloves to the ground in disgust after striking out in the ninth inning of Monday night's loss in Milwaukee.

It didn't take long for the Chicago Cubs' center fielder to get a chance to redeem himself Wednesday in Game 3 of the National League Division Series.

Busch and Crow-Armstrong lead the way

The Cubs had already answered the Milwaukee Brewers' first-inning run when Michael Busch led off the bottom of the frame with a solo home run off Quinn Priester, his second leadoff homer of the series. Unlike the first two games, when Chicago's bats screeched to a halt following a first-inning long ball, the Cubs kept the pressure on, loading the bases on a Nico Hoerner single and walks by Kyle Tucker and Ian Happ.

But when Carson Kelly went down swinging with the bases loaded, the inning was left in Crow-Armstrong's hands with two out. Two days after going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, Crow-Armstrong laid off back-to-back sliders in the dirt to work the count to 2-1. Priester's next slider stayed out over the plate, and Crow-Armstrong lined it to right field for a two-run single, giving Chicago the lead.

Just as he did in the Wild Card series against the San Diego Padres, Crow-Armstrong showed the ability to make adjustments from game to game. The same held true for the Cubs as a whole — after striking out at least 11 times in each of their first five postseason games, they had just seven strikeouts in Game 3 as they kept their season alive with a 4-3 win.

"Huge hit at a huge time. Very clutch," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "Credit to them and what they did in the first inning to do just enough to win."

Keller gets huge strikeout in eighth

For the second straight game, Chicago's bats stopped working after the first inning, although the Cubs did have chances to add on. They wasted Seiya Suzuki's leadoff double in the third, then had two men on with one out in the seventh but failed to score.

Andrew Kittredge
David Banks-Imagn Images

Meanwhile, Milwaukee began clawing its way back as Jake Bauers, getting a spot start at first base, hit an RBI single off Jameson Taillon in the fourth. Bauers was at it again in the seventh, tagging an opposite-field solo homer off Andrew Kittredge, who retired the next three batters he faced before coming back out to start the eighth.

Counsell's decision to stick with Kittredge backfired as Jackson Chourio hit a leadoff double just out of Crow-Armstrong's reach. Left-hander Caleb Thielbar took over and retired two of the three batters he faced, then handed the ball to Brad Keller with runners at the corners and two outs.

Keller walked Caleb Durbin on four pitches to load the bases for Bauers. But after missing outside with a fastball for his fifth straight ball, Keller pumped another fastball and then a changeup through the zone to get ahead in the count. His 1-2 fastball was right over the middle of the plate, and although Bauers just got a piece of it, he foul-tipped the ball into Kelly's mitt for strike three.

Keller had been shaky in a second inning of work in the previous round against San Diego, but Counsell had reached the end of the line with his high-leverage bullpen arms, so Keller went back out to pitch the ninth and retired the Brewers in order, inducing a sharp groundout from Christian Yelich to end the game.

"It's hard to describe, but we live to fight another day," Keller said. "(My mindset was to) just attack them. We've got a really good defense behind us. I kind of feel like I got away from that my last couple outings, so I just tried to come in. I feel like I missed pretty tightly on Durbin, but the next guy, just go after him."

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Benjamin Rosenberg
BENJAMIN ROSENBERG

Benjamin Rosenberg attended his first game at Wrigley Field before he even knew what a baseball was, and has maintained a strong passion for baseball and the Cubs ever since. He grew up in both suburban Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area, and graduated with both bachelor’s and master's degrees in journalism from Northwestern University in 2021. Benjamin has covered just about every high school and college sport imaginable all over the United States, with a particular focus on softball. He was named the 2022 New Hampshire Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.

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