Cubs vs. Brewers Series Review

The starters continue to impress as the Cubs finally took a game from their I-94 neighbors yesterday afternoon 8-0. The first three games of the series weren't much to write home about, as the Cubs couldn't muster much beyond singles at the plate and late inning heroics were struck down by the lanky-but-dangerous bullpen tandem of Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford.

Take a look after the jump for game-by-game recaps of the four-game set.



Monday - Brewers 7, Cubs 5 - The Cubs were able to rally in the ninth to make this one tight, but Axford came in to put out the flames for his first save of the year. The Brewers used four runs against an overmatched Shawn Camp and Lendy Castillo in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to jump out to a four-run lead. It could have been worse as Camp's pickoff move was about his best out pitch, nailing Nyjer Morgan off second and third in consecutive innings. Bernie's Crew was led by two RBIs from booed former Cubs Aramis Ramirez and 4 RBIs from the bottom four spots in their order. Chris Volstad had a solid first outing for the Cubs before the bullpen implosion, going 5 innings with 5 H, 3 ER, and 6 K.


Tuesday - Brewers 7, Cubs 4 - A much less exciting game than Monday, this one was over in the first as Paul Maholm couldn't carry his Arizona form back to Wrigley for his first start of the season. Maholm gave up 6 ER on 80 pitches over four innings, including a three-run shot by Alex Gonzalez in the first that put the game out of reach early. Soriano had 2 RBIs in the bottom of the third to get the Cubs within three, but they would never get any closer and K-Rod came in to get his first save of the year in the ninth.

Wednesday - Brewers 2, Cubs 1 - Another fantastic outing from Dempster was spoiled by yet another late comeback, although this one fell on Dempster's shoulders. Following Starlin Castro's first-inning sac fly to knock in David DeJesus, Dempster had a three-hit shutout through six before Mat Gamel doubled leading off the seventh. George Kottaras followed with his second homer this season and the Cubs bats fell silent the rest of the way, including K-Rod and John Axford striking out the side in both the eighth and ninth innings.

Thursday - Cubs 8, Brewers 0 - A pitcher's gem finally held up as Garza struck out nine (five on sliders) and allowed only five baserunners in 8 2/3. The Cubs finally blew an inning open with a 6-inning eighth that included just one extra base hit (Steve Clevenger's leadoff double). RBIs from Johnson, Barney, Castro, Soriano (2) and Stewart gave the Cubs an early lead that wouldn't be threatened the rest of the way, eventually chasing Zach Greinke in the fourth in his shortest outing since 2010. Highlights included two doubles from backup backstop Steve Clevenger, multi-RBI days from the 3 & 4 hitters in Castro and Soriano, and of course Garza's gem. Garza fell one out short of his first shutout in two years with what Dale Sveum explained as the "greatest worst throw of all time" (see below). Garza angrily ceded to Shawn Camp for the final out, but it's nice to see Garza's competitive streak alive still at the end of a blowout victory.