Cubs face playoff elimination after 7-3 loss to Brewers in Game 2 of NLDS

MILWAUKEE — Cubs left fielder Ian Happ gave a frank evaluation, after the Cubs lost a second straight game to the Brewers, of what needed to happen as they faced elimination entering Game 3 of the National League Division Series.

“We’ve won a few games here in the playoffs, but haven’t scored a bunch of runs,” he said after the Cubs’ 7-3 loss to the Brewers on Tuesday. “So hanging a few crooked numbers would help a lot.”

Crooked numbers had been the Brewers’ specialty in the first two games of the series, while the Cubs haven’t been able to push past the three-run mark.

Down 0-2 in the best-of-five series, the odds are stacked even more dramatically against the Cubs. Throughout MLB postseason history, of the 90 teams that have fallen behind two games to one in a best-of-five series, only 10 have come back to win, according to mlb.com.

The glimmer of hope in the first inning made the let down even more dramatic.

As Seiya Suzuki’s three-run blast to left field touched down on American Family Field’s Miller Lite Landing, it looked like a breakthrough. The Cubs were getting on base and scoring in bunches.

But wait.

The Brewers, not usually known for their power bats, couldn’t even let the Cubs have that.

The Brewers let the Cubs ride their first-frame high two batters into the bottom half of the inning. Cubs starter Shota Imanaga struck out the Brewers’ Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang.

Then William Contreras and Christian Yelich hit line drives into shallow left field for a pair of singles. It looked like they were going to their usual playbook: chip away and capitalize on the opponent’s mistakes.

Then with one swing, the game turned.

The Brewers’ Andrew Vaughn, who they’d acquired from the White Sox back in June — for right-hander Aaron Civale, who eventually landed with the Cubs — worked a full count on six pitches.

Imanaga’s seventh, a sweeper, hung belt-high, and Vaughn ripped it into the second deck.

Forget manufacturing runs. Forget the Cubs’ power advantage.

The Brewers were back in the drivers’ seat, with the game tied at three runs apiece.

“With the team putting up three runs, I ruined the game,” Imanaga said through Japanese interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “And there’s a lot of frustration within myself.”

Two innings later, Milwaukee pulled ahead, again with the long ball.

With two outs in the third inning, Imanga failed to put an inside fastball to Contreras at the top rail. Contreras made him pay, launching a solo shot to left.

Imanaga allowed one more hit, a single to Yelich, before handing over the ball with two outs in the third.

Imanaga hadn’t had much success against the Brewers in the regular season over two years, but a four-run start that lasted only 2⅔ innings was a disastrous outcome in the NLDS for a team hoping to even the series after a Game 1 pummeling.

“Realistically, I haven’t been able to put up the results to help the team,” Imanaga said when asked how much he hoped he’d be able to make another postseason start. “But if that was to come to reality, then you know, I want to regain the trust of everybody.”

Next, the Cubs turned to hard-throwing Daniel Palencia, who served as the closer for much of the year.

With two outs in the fourth inning, he, too, gave up a three-run home run.

Palencia threw three straight fastballs to Chourio. The third was the hardest, clocking in at 101.4 mph, according to statcast. But it was also in the middle of the plate, and Chourio lined it off the batter’s eye in center field to give the Brewers a 7-3 lead.

The Brewers pitched a bullpen game, using seven pitchers. Left-hander Aaron Ashby, who served as the opener, was the only one the Cubs scored against. The Cubs totaled just four hits.

“In the postseason, every team has really good pitchers,” Suzuki said. “The goal is to keep applying pressure on posting pictures.”

After the initial burst, the Cubs again fell short of that goal.

The Brewers pitching staff was well rested. Milwaukee, which had the best regular-season record in the majors, earned a first-round bye. Then their Game 1 starter, Freddy Peralta, threw 5⅔ innings, making for an easy day for the bullpen. They stayed away from right-hander Quinn Priester, a Cary-Grove High School alumnus, who is set to start Game 3 for the Brewers.

The schedule built in an off day in between Game 1 and Game 2. And as the series moves from Milwaukee to Chicago, the teams get another off day Tuesday. So, the Brewers’ pitching staff will be fresh again for Game 3.

More bad news for the Cubs.

They’ll have right-hander Jameson Taillon – the starter who fared the best in the wild-card series last week, pitching in a must-win Game 3 – on the mound to counter.

“You can’t look at it as this daunting three games,” Happ said. “You have to take it as, win tomorrow, move on, win tomorrow, move on. And so that’s the only thing that we can do as a group, is just win on Wednesday, go from there.”

Can this team really come back from back-to-back routs, with no wiggle room to work with?

Said center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong: “I’d be a fool if I was here and didn’t think so.”