Brewers: Ranking the 5 Biggest Plays from a July 4th Win Over the Cubs

How was that for some 4th of July fireworks, Brewers fans?!

Independence Day brought the Crew back home to start a three-game series against the rival Chicago Cubs. From Eric Lauer starting things off with strong, bounce back outing (6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K) to an extra inning walk-off, there was plenty of thrilling action as Milwaukee pulled off a 5-2 win against the North Siders.

Of course, there were a handful of key moments that either kept the Brewers’ opponent at bay or helped ultimately propel the team to victory. Let’s look back at five of the most important such plays in Milwaukee’s stunning win.

Here’s a ranking of the five most important plays from the Brewers’ July 4th walk-off win over the Cubs.

5. Pedro Severino’s RBI double

Despite Lauer’s strong start to the game, the Brewers found themselves down 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh with just one hit, a Luis Urias double, to their name. With two outs, designated hitter Keston Hiura drew a walk and then stole his way over to second base.

That brought catcher Pedro Severino to the plate. Severino had just returned to the Brewers roster on Sunday after finishing the 80-game suspension the league levied on him right before Opening Day. Monday, however, ended up being his first game in the lineup for the Crew.

Severino grounded out and struck out in his first two plate appearances on the day. But with Hiura on second and two outs in the seventh, he drove in the team’s first run of the game and tied everything up at 1-1.

Severino would be lifted from the game for a pinch runner later that same inning. Still, his first career hit as a Milwaukee Brewer proved to be a big one.

Here’s a ranking of the five most important plays from the Brewers’ July 4th walk-off win over the Cubs.

2. Brad Boxberger’s huge scoreless tenth inning

When the Brewers were unable to end the game in the ninth, the game was sent to extra innings, which meant everyone’s “favorite” rule: starting extra innings with a runner on second. The reliever who got to handle this tense situation first was Brewers right-hander Brad Boxberger.

Boxberger had just thrown 20 pitches the previous day in a win over the Pirates and it showed a bit at first. The Cubs went single, fly out, walk in their first three batters to load the bases with just one out, bringing likely All-Star catcher Wilson Contreras to the plate.

Boxberger would make quick work of Contreras on three swinging strikes, which would bring another hot hitter in outfielder Ian Happ to the plate. Happ would work the count to 3-1 at one point, just one ball away from a bases loaded walk to give the Cubs the lead. But then Boxberger reared back for arguably the two biggest strikes for a Brewers pitcher all game.

That would end up being the last time a Chicago batter would see the plate that game.

1. Victor Caratini’s walk-off home run

Going into the tenth inning, the Brewers had the second-best OPS with the bases loaded in all of baseball at an .820 mark. But for a second, it looked like that might not matter and the game might be headed to an eleventh inning.

With Adames starting the inning as the runner on second, the Brewers would see outfielder Andrew McCutchen fly out, first baseman Rowdy Tellez get intentionally walked, and Urias pop out. Enter catcher Victor Caratini.

Caratini, who the Brewers only traded for as a result of the Severino suspension, had been having a horrible day at the plate up to that point, earning the “golden sombrero” by striking out four times against his former team. But with a 2-1 count, he treated Brewers fans to an early 4th of July fireworks display.

The win bumped the Brewers’ record this season up to 47-35, which gave them a 2.5-game lead in the NL Central over the St. Louis Cardinals at the time the game ended. That is also just two games behind the pace of the 2021 team through the same number of games.

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You never know what you’re going to see at a baseball game. For Brewers fans today, it happened to be the first 4th of July walk-off in franchise history.