Brewers depart Wrigleyville on a high note

Thursday afternoon's series finale was a big game for both the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs. The Cubs faced their final opportunity to directly impact the Brewers' division lead. The Brewers had an opportunity to escape the Friendly Confines with a minor hit to their lead in the NL Central. A win for the Crew meant a comfortable seven-game cushion in the division, whereas a loss would've led to a shaky five-game lead. Thankfully, the Crew was victorious in Thursday's matinee, scratching out a 4-1 win behind an impressive showing from their bullpen.

The Brewers got off to a hot start, scoring half of their runs in the second inning. Brice Turang, who now has eight home runs in the month of August — more than he had in either of the last two seasons — took left-handed starter Shota Imanaga deep despite the wind blowing in off the lake at Wrigley Field. Turang turned on a 2-0 fastball on the inside corner that Imanaga tried to sneak by him, and sent it over the right field fence. With Yelich, who drew a walk to lead off the inning, on first base, the Brewers took an early 2-0 lead.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, Quinn Priester, who was going for his franchise record-breaking 11th straight winning decision, was off to a clean, but shaky start. It was clear that Priester didn't have his best stuff today, particularly his usual pinpoint command, and it led to a lot of traffic on the basepaths behind him. However, up until he was removed from the game, Priester was able to work around the five free passes that he surrendered, and through four innings he had yet to allow a run.

Priester was relieved of his duties with one out in the fifth inning, leaving the bases loaded for Nick Mears, who replaced him from the bullpen. Mears allowed a sacrifice fly to the first batter he faced, Pete Crow-Armstrong, but retired the next batter he faced, leaving the Brewers with a 2-1 lead after five innings. Because Priester failed to make it through the fifth inning, he killed his chances of earning his 11th straight winning decision, but because the game ended in a no decision and not a loss for Brewers' starter, he will have a chance to break the record once again in his next start.

With the Brewers holding on to a one-run lead and already into their bullpen before the fifth inning concluded, it was going to take an impressive performance from Pat Murphy's group of relievers for Milwaukee to pull off the win. Luckily, that's just what the "firemen" delivered.

Brewers bullpen shines in important series finale win over Cubs

Grant Anderson followed Mears out of the Brewers bullpen on Thursday afternoon. Despite allowing a leadoff single to Nico Hoerner, Anderson delivered a clean inning, striking out Cubs' catcher Reese McGuire to finish out the frame. Anderson, who was optioned to Triple-A and promoted back to the major leagues during the team's series in Chicago, delivered one of his most impressive outings of the season after what must have been a frustrating and exhausting week for the Brewers' breakout reliever.

">Jared Koenig was next out of the Brewers’ pen. He walked the first batter he faced, Chicago's first baseman Michael Busch, on five pitches, worrying Brewers fans with his lack of control. However, Koenig quickly recovered, getting the next batter, Kyle Tucker, to line out softly to second base. Busch made a baserunning blunder on the play and was doubled up at first base, giving Koenig two quick outs. Koenig then struck out Seiya Suzuki on a painted 98 mph fastball on the inner half, preserving the Brewers’ one-run lead.

MLB holds leader Abner Uribe came on for the penultimate frame, but not before the Brewers added two huge insurance runs. New dad Isaac Collins picked up a two-RBI single in the top of the 8th after Andruw Monasterio singled and Sal Frelick doubled earlier in the inning. Now with a three-run lead, Uribe made things interesting by walking the first two batters he saw, but hunkered down and retired the next three batters in order, benefitting from a hustle defensive play by Andrew Vaughn who dove into first base to beat Owen Caissie to the bag on an inning-ending groundout.

The leadoff hitter reached base once again for the Cubs in the bottom of the ninth, but Chicago was unable to scratch across any runs against the Brewers All-Star closer, Trevor Megill. Finishing off the game and the five-game series with a clean ninth inning, Megill earned his 30th save of the season.

In the end, despite a second postponement, five games in four days, plenty of roster shuffling, and a doubleheader that should have occurred back in June, the Brewers dropped just one game in the standings. They take their seven-game NL Central lead back home to American Family Field where they will play 10 of their next 13 games. 34 games remain in the regular season, and while the Brewers may have lost the series, and the season series for that matter, to the Cubs, they limited the damage and got back in the win column on Thursday afternoon. They now look to keep that momentum going and start another winning streak against the San Francisco Giants, who come to town for a weekend series beginning tomorrow night.