Cody Bellinger drives in winning run to beat Brewers

Jordan Bastian

CHICAGO -- Cody Bellinger ran through first base and threw his arms out to the sides, signaling that he was safe as the Wrigley Field crowd roared. The Cubs star is plenty good, but he also had a dash of luck on his side when it mattered most on Wednesday afternoon.

Bellinger sent an eighth-inning comebacker off the lower right leg of Brewers reliever Joel Payamps, which rebounded toward third base and created just enough of an opening for the Cubs to pull off a 3-2 win that sealed a crucial series victory.

“I just kind of put my head down and ran as fast as I could,” Bellinger said.

Brewers third baseman Andruw Monasterio hustled to grab the ball and get off a throw. Mike Tauchman raced home as Bellinger was safe by a step, and the Cubs had the lead they needed. And that is how close this October-esque series between the NL Central rivals was this week at the Friendly Confines.

After Milwaukee claimed the first game, the Cubs did just enough to pull off one-run victories over the Brewers’ one-two punch of Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff in the last two tilts. A foundational formula of pitching and defense paved the way for a Chicago club that is very much in the thick of the playoff picture with a month to go.

“We knew coming in it was going to be a big series,” Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks said. “A little more energy. A little more tension from the outside. But we were able to stay locked in and just keep it pitch to pitch. That's what we've been doing for the last couple months, to be honest with you.”

The win evened the season series between the Cubs and Brewers at five games apiece, with division-leading Milwaukee holding a three-game lead over Chicago in the division. The rivals will meet again to end the regular season in a Sept. 29-Oct. 1 set that may very well carry postseason implications.

After the game, Brewers manager Craig Counsell was asked if it feels like the teams are evenly matched.

“It feels like we’re three games up,” Counsell replied.

Fair enough, but the Cubs are looking beyond the Wild Card race.

“We believe the division is reachable,” Bellinger said. “We've thought that for a while. It's definitely something that we as a group have strived for since Spring Training. We've got a whole month left, though, and against some really good teams. So we've just got to continue playing our game.”

The Cubs -- currently holding steady in the second of three Wild Card spots -- will now play 11 games in a row (and 14 of the next 17) against teams chasing them on that front in the Reds, Giants and D-backs. An off-day Thursday will allow the North Siders to take a deep breath, but then four games in three days await in Cincinnati this weekend.

Hendricks is confident that the players have the right mentality for this upcoming stretch.

“We've shown we can do it -- just ignore the outside noise like we've been doing, trust in the group,” he said. “We know where we want to be in the end, so that's a huge motivating factor for us. So I think it'd be pretty simple.”

In the wake of the series-opening loss to the Brewers -- a defeat that featured some uncharacteristic miscues in the field -- Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson offered up this simple remedy: “The biggest thing for us is just playing our brand of baseball.”

The Cubs’ brand includes the type of quality start turned in by Hendricks, who limited the Brewers to one unearned run over six innings. It features resilience -- such as closer Adbert Alzolay brushing off a run-scoring hit-by-pitch in the eighth and coming back with a solid ninth to seal the win.

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Chicago’s brand is Tauchman holding Rowdy Tellez to a single in the second inning with a quick throw in from deep in the left-center-field gap. It is second baseman Nico Hoerner diving up the middle to knock down a sharp grounder from Carlos Santana in the fifth, keeping William Contreras at third base to preserve the Cubs’ 2-1 lead.

“Those are winning plays that aren’t going to show up in a box score,” Cubs manager David Ross said.

And those are the kind of plays that win games in October. This series against the Brewers felt like a test run.

“It's not going to get much better than that,” Ross said. “They've got really good, consistent pitching. Their bullpen is really good. And you saw a lot of zeros from both teams get thrown up over 18 innings. That's what's going to happen. It's what a playoff-type game is going to be like. And we took two of three. That was nice.”