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Cubs Avoid Elimination & Force Game 4 vs. Brewers in NLDS | MLB on TBS · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I got Curtis Granderson on my right. I got Jimmy
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Rollins and the gnarly pedro Lefco Martinez all the way
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: down there at the end. Yeah, what a game. Cubs,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: as they've been doing, gets all their work done in
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the first inning and then holds on white knuckles it
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: to the very end and survives Milwaukee. They took some
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: hacks at it, they had bases loaded in the eighth,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: but the Cubs pitchers able to get it done.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: I'm Curtis.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I'm going to start with you. How confident do you
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: feel right now? For the Cubs to not just take
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: it to four, but.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: To take it to five. The confidence is rising. It's
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: not all the way there yet. We had another start
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: to the game like we've done in Game one in
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Game two, and then everything fell off, no more runs,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: no more pressure afterwards, but they did enough to hold
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: on to win this game if they can keep the starts.
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: Like they're going. But add now all of a sudden,
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: that confidence and pressure continues to build up. It's there,
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: it's coming. They just have it able to execute late
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: when they needed to.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Let's put this into perspective. I think we have a
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: way of showing the first inning run output in this
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: series thus far versus the rest of the game. In
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: first innings as far, we have had what is it,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: eighteen runs, four home runs in the first inning of
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: the series. From innings two through nine, eleven runs and
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: just and five home runs. So everything's happening in the
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: very beginning of these games, Paedro. But then afterwards Milwaukee
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: has been able to chip away, just not tonight.
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: Kudos to the bullpens, and today they did an outstanding
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: job on both sides for Milwaukee. I wish I thought
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: a little bit more from the starting pitcher, but he
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: couldn't stay in there for a little bit longer. But
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: you know what, Milwaukee continues to do the same thing
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: with their bullpen and with the kind of stuff that
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: they had the cups. They did great today, yes, but
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: I don't know that I can say the same thing
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: for tomorrow and the next day. So they pitched really
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: well out of the bookpend today, but I don't know
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  Speaker 5: that I can trust them to do that again against
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: the Pecsky team like the Milwaukee.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Brewers get this.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: In this series thus far, Milwaukee relievers seventeen and two
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: thirds innings pitched and they've allowed only one run. Also
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: a big development for the Brewers. Quintana gets his first
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: relief appearance since twenty twenty one, goes three innings, pitched,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: two k's, two hits, no run. The relief was there.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Everything happened in the beginning of the game.
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah, And that's a bad sign from the Cubs. When
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: you have that momentum there, you keep adding, you keep adding,
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: you put them way right away, and not only that,
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: you were going to tax that boopen even earlier. But
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: they seem to stop. They seem to settle with just
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: what they got, and that's scary against a team like Milwaukee.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Jay row PCA said something there to Bar where he said,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: we really had the game plan for Quinn Priester and
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: that first hitting boy did they They knocked him out
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: after only two outs. But then it seemed like when
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: they had to adjust them the fly is that maybe
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: what it is, they have a really good game plan
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: for the starting pitcher, they're just not facing him for
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: that long in any of these games.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Well, whatever they wanted to do, they were able to
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: find a way to get it done. He wasn't throwing
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: the ball over the plate. They were patient and they
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: got to him. And when you have a guy in
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: the ropes, yes, you focus because you don't think he's
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: going to come out in less than four or five innings.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: So your game plan is about putting pressure on him.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: We have his number, and then it happened so fast,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: he goes two third of an end. You have someone
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: else in it, take a little time to adjust, and
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: they bring in Q, who holds him down, does a
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: great job to end up innings. But you have to
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: find a way to keep applying pressure. We saw it,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: We've seen it all series long. There's urgency in that
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: first inning. Can we be the first one a score?
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: And guess what they're doing? That both sides of finding
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: ways to put up runs in the first inning. But
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the Cubs fall off, and that's where Milwaukee gets stronger.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Look we may chip away, add one here, add one there,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: as Pedro said, if they add some runs, not that
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Milwaukee folds. But you put a delta between yourself and them,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: and it's like we're on the road, and sometimes you
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: do can see that's a team. It's hard to say,
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: but it's like, you know what, maybe it's their night
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: and you go, all right, they're going to get their win.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: We'll save our bullets for tomorrow. But they weren't able
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: to do that, and Milwaukee had chances. It was a
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: play that happened that I was kind of questionable in
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: my opinion, and made them a little desperate. But that's baseball.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Milwaukee was playing their brand of baseball. But the urgency
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: to score early happens. But Chicago has to do more
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: than After the first inning.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Second game this series, Michael Bush hit a home run
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: to lead off the bats for the Chicago Cubs. He
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: joined our large Jabarro postgame.
• 4:44
  Speaker 6: Michael, you set the tone for your team early and
• 4:47
  Speaker 6: this one it ended up being the one that got
• 4:49
  Speaker 6: you guys over the edge to win it. Just tell
• 4:51
  Speaker 6: me what went through your mind when you step into
• 4:53
  Speaker 6: the box. You're leading off for your team. This is
• 4:54
  Speaker 6: your second lead up home run this series.
• 4:57
  Speaker 7: H Yeah, just just trying to, you know, have a
• 4:59
  Speaker 7: good at bat. Not all of them go my way,
• 5:01
  Speaker 7: but you know, definitely happy to get one that you know,
• 5:04
  Speaker 7: got us on the board type things up.
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: It's a full team effort. But that bullpen comes in.
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: Brett Keller closes this thing out. How big were those
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: two innings that you saw from him today.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:12
  Speaker 7: Huge, That's That's what they've been doing all year. They've
• 5:16
  Speaker 7: been big for us, coming up in big situation for
• 5:19
  Speaker 7: us against.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: Really good teams.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: It's the reason why we're here.
• 5:22
  Speaker 7: And you know, it's been fun to watch it, fun
• 5:25
  Speaker 7: to play behind God the great dudes, great on the mound,
• 5:28
  Speaker 7: right in the clubhouse, all around.
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: Great win.
• 5:31
  Speaker 6: Dansy told me before the game, Hey, we need three,
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: but you're not gonna get three without getting one. What
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: was the mindset like of the team heading into this
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: one steven off elimination?
• 5:39
  Speaker 7: Yeah, that was That was an impressive first inning by us.
• 5:41
  Speaker 7: I thought, just up and down the lineup eaving our outs.
• 5:43
  Speaker 7: We just had great at bats. You know, we didn't
• 5:46
  Speaker 7: we didn't give them much. I thought we were just
• 5:48
  Speaker 7: locked in from the beginning. And you know, it happened
• 5:50
  Speaker 7: to give us four runs to win it. But I
• 5:51
  Speaker 7: thought right off, we're off the bat, all nine of us,
• 5:54
  Speaker 7: you know, kind of gave really good at bats.
• 5:56
  Speaker 6: What's it like being back at home these fans. It's
• 5:58
  Speaker 6: incredible here.
• 5:59
  Speaker 7: It's amazing nuts fans in baseball. You know, they brought
• 6:02
  Speaker 7: it tonight as they always do. We're excited to get.
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: Another one tomorrow.
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: We'll see you tomorrow.
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: Thank you, thank you.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: All the man does is hit leadoff jacks. Michael Bush
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: is the first player hitting multiple leadoff home runs in
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: the same series in a single postseason. And if Sarah
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Lang's reporting it, it means it's fact because she doesn't miss.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Let's get to these highlights major your guys, Zambrano.
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: Look this first pitch, I mean he used to do
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: that a lot.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Uh Chicagoland area native Quinn Priester on the mound, and
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: you think maybe there was some added pressure.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: There has to be. You're from there, you grew up
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: a cupspan, your whole family's there, and you know they're
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: asking for tickets. They want to come see a game
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: there because there's some diehard Cups fans, even in your
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: own family, So there might have been a little bit there.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Well, look, this was a moment that he really wanted.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: But he had thirty nine pitches in that first inning,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: let up four earned runs, only went two outs. We
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: have no doubt whole turn around, but he had to
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: get pulled in this game and it would just keep
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: going for the for the cuttings here, Jaywell but.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: I like the way Murphy grabbed him and gave him
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: some words of encouragement, let him know, Hey, we have
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: to make this move because we're we're gonna have games
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: that play what we're gonna need you. But the Cubs
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: that they were what they were supposed to. They capitalized
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: on as wildness as mistakes, and fortunately for them, that
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: was all they needed.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Fast forward to the seventh inning, Jake Bowers in the
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: lineup instead of Andrew Vaughn. Just like Vaughn in Game two,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: he hits a home run and we are within one run.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Bottom seven now, two outs. Chad Patrick on for Milwaukee
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: facing Ian Hat runners on the corners. Go back to
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: the dugout. This is where it got real interesting. Patro
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: top eighth, no out, bases loaded.
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know what, kudos to this kid riding
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: up from four out. Yep, and he got him. But
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: I'll tell you what, You're not gonna get away from
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: Milwaukee all the time we just pitching two or three innings.
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: I think the Cubs are gonna need to have one
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: of those starters gonna come up and pitch a good
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: game in order for them to recoup and not have
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: to use the bullpen like they used them today. If
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: they don't do that, if they don't have one of
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: those starters right come up and pitch, well, they're gonna
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: tax the bullpen. And I just can't see it happening
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: against the Brewers.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: It's tough, man, especially because you know how much Kate
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Horton was that plan, and for him not even being
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: available in this Division series is so big. But I thought,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: I thought you were impressed because he let up that
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: first run in the first inning, but he did get
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: settled down, and since he's returned from the IL, he's
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: been a steadying force for the Cups.
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: Well, he did well. I was concerned a little bit about,
• 8:43
  Speaker 5: you know, his rust, and also because Tion is a
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: fly ball pitcher, and as we saw from left to
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: right right, the wind was blowing early and later on
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: it was blowing even more. But I think they pulled
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: him off at the right time and the bullpen was
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: to pick him up. But I've seen Milwaukee doing that
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: all year, it's not just in the postseason. But I
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: don't know that I can say that the Cubs are
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: going to continue to do that, especially the next two games.
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: They need one of those starters to pitch well for
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: them Cubs.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: They did break some really unseemly streaks. They had a
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: MLB record thirteen postseason games where they had not scored
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: more than three runs. That gets snapped tonight. This was
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: also the first postseason game this year for the Cubs
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: where they didn't strike out ten or more. So it
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: has been an issue on offense. They said, it steadied
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: it tonight, definitely.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: And we know they're a big play team, they're a
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: big bat team, but they concede to say, we're going
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: to have to put the ball and play and apply pressure.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: You cut down your swing, put together some of bats,
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: which they did in the first inning, and you find
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: yourself in better positions if they're up there playing hero ball,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: which all season long they've been able to do. They've
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: been able to find that hit guys with power a
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: ballpark that plays for fly ball hitters. Tonight, they were
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: trying to press one run, one run, one run, We'll
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: take the single, think small and big things will happen.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: They had a big first and that was all they
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: needed and PCA.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: Said something, it's great hitting when the guys in front
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: of you go get on this. We talked about it earlier.
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: The runners in scoring position, they only had four attempts
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: going into tonight. You finally get runners in scoring position,
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: you get some runs to come across the board. But
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: as we saw as the game went along, the struggle
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: to start to get him out there. But as you
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: see here Pca gets in that situation. He talked about
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: the batter pitcher relationship, having that those previous at bats
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: in these situations against someone you face when this pitch
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: count gets there, this is what he did in the past.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: He might do the same thing here and I could
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: take advantage of it with a hit to get some
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: runs across. If I have runners in scoring tell you.
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: What they can say up for today. But remember we
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: have a few starters that are lurking around for the
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: next two games. Not only that prisoner could be used
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: if not to tomorrow, not tomorrow, I will say, but
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: the next day. Who pits three innings and he's a veteran,
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: he knows how his body responds. Also, you can use
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: in the bullpen, plus the rest of the bullpen, and
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: Reba is fresh. One inning, easy inning yesterday, uh the
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: day before. They have pretty much the same boopen they
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: had a year plus a couple of arms from a
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: few of the starters that they haven't been using, but
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: a few the cubs.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: You're happy they strung together some hits, and that's what
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: I heard, what you're saying, Yeah, but a positive. We
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: were able to string together some hits. Yes, we only
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: did it really for one ending. We got four runs,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: but that's something that we haven't done in a while,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: especially these playoffs, are multiple run inning, shrinking together hits
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: because as you said, they know they have arms out there,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: and if you're trying to go big against those arms,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: it's not going to happen. But if you can go single,
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: get a double, get runners on, get another single, and
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: play the five pressures, you always have to play defense.
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: Of course, I saw Nicol Horner finished the game on
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: a great player.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: You know why. You know why from oakon Doc.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: That's how we built them up.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: But what I'm worrying.
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: They stayed away from mistakes. If they happen to make
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: that mistake in that rundown where the ball was almost
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: thrown away right we will be talking about the Milwaukee
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: Brewers probably popping champagne right now.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Or the runner just turns and hits the guy. Because
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: he was literally standing next to him, right.
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: Next to him. But at the same time, when you
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: look at the things that wasn't right for the Kubbies
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: and the things that could have happened in that game,
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: you have to kind of look to the future, and
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: the future looks bright for the Milwaukee Brewers. I'm not
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: saying it's not right for the Chicago Cubs, but they're
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: gonna need those guys to really be at their best
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: defensively in the bullpen, and they need, like I said,
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: one more starter to actually give them a little bit
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: of rest in the bullpen.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the Cubs one tonight the way we saw them
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: winning the regular season, Score what you need to and
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: then play live down defense in the field to get
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: home the W. They are flying the W flag in Chicago.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: I'll sync with my ship if.
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: I have to last.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Cubs five, Joey, we wish you the luck. PCA, after
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: having a rough postseason, came through and that first in
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: and gave them what they needed and Keller shut the
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: doorway