Short-term memory leads Brewers to thrilling series victory over rival Cubs

The Milwaukee Brewers turned in what was perhaps their best win of the 2026 season on Tuesday night. With their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, in town and ace Jacob Misiorowski on the bump, the Brew Crew was down to their final strike before Jackson Chourio roped a game-tying, two-run home run to left field. Rookie outfielder Luis Lara walked it off in extra innings.

As exciting as the final seven outs of Tuesday night's game were, the heroics of the Brewers' young outfield duo were made even more impressive by their ability to put early-game mistakes behind them and deliver when their team needed it most.

Chourio had an incredible game, with four hits to prove it, but the Brewers' budding superstar made a crucial error in the bottom of the fifth inning that could have given his team the lead. Chourio dumped a one-out single to left field and a subsequent walk from Brice Turang put the Brewers' left field on second base with the game tied 1-1.

After a strikeout from Jake Bauers, William Contreras slapped a two-out single to right field and third base coach Matt Erickson sent Chourio home to score. Chourio appeared to have the throw beat, but a poor slide allowed Cubs' catcher Miguel Amaya to tag him out and keep the game tied at 1-1. Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel captured the play perfectly with the following post on the social media platform X which clearly details how Chourio would have been safe with a head-first slide.

Said manager Pat Murphy on the slide after the game, "He dives there, he's safe. He's got a lane to just slide in, you hope he's safe...Feet first at the plate, I just don't like it." However, Chourio didn't dwell on his mistake, and instead crushed the biggest hit of the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs.

After Trevor Megill surrendered two runs in the top of the ninth, the Brewers quickly made two outs in the bottom of the frame before Murphy called on his veteran leader, Christian Yelich, to extend the game. Yeli did just that, ripping a two-out, two-strike single down the right field line and getting the red-hot Chourio to the plate. Facing Jacob Webb, who has served as the Cubs' closer as of late, Chourio jumped on a changeup that was left up in the zone and sent it over the left-field fence, tying the game at three runs apiece.

Not only did Chourio's big fly tie the game, but it also gave him a new career-high for homers in a single season. After collecting 21 homers in each of his first two seasons in MLB, Chourio now has 22 longballs during the 2026 campaign following his clutch home run in last night's ballgame.

However, despite Chourio's electrifying two-run homer, there was still work to be done, and the 10th inning in last night's Brewers-Cubs clash was one to remember.

Luis Lara, Jackson Chourio overcome early mistakes with clutch late-game hits to give Brewers series victory over rival Cubs

DL Hall, who closed out the ninth inning after Megill's struggles, remained in the game for the 10th inning, during which an incredible defensive play from center fielder Garrett Mitchell carried him to a scoreless frame. The Cubs' first batter of the 10th inning, All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman, sent a fly ball to center field. Mitchell camped under it, caught it, and fired a strike to third base, where he cut down automatic runner Seiya Suzuki, who was tagging up from second. A good tag from third baseman David Hamilton assisted the double play, and when Nico Hoerner followed it up with a fly out to right, the game headed to the bottom of the 10th as a 3-3 tie.

Lara's night wasn't quite as consistently strong as Chourio's, which perhaps made his ability to clutch up in the 10th inning that much more impressive. Earlier in the game, Lara unsuccessfully used an ABS challenge in a bad spot -- with one out in the sixth inning and no one on base -- and then struck out looking with two outs and two runners on base in the eighth inning. Pair that with what should have been two groundouts into double plays in his first two at-bats of the game, and it wasn't a banner night for Lara until the game went into extra innings.

However, when his spot came up in the 10th inning, with the bases loaded and one out, Lara wasn't dwelling on his quartet of poor at-bats; he was ready to end the game with a walk-off hit. A looper over the third baseman's head did just that, sending Brewers fans home happy and the Brew Crew home with another home series victory -- their 10th in a row.

It was an impressive display of short-term memory not only from Chourio and Lara, but Mitchell as well, who struck out three times in an 0-for-4 showing before making his huge defensive play in extra innings. Said Mitchell on the importance of having a short-term memory in baseball after the game, "In baseball, you have a really good day, and then a really crappy day. There's not a ton you can control on offense when things aren't going well, but if there's one thing that I take pride in, it's playing good defense. And you don't take your offense to defense."

Navigating major league baseball, especially for young players at the beginning of their careers, requires a short-term memory, one that prevents you from dwelling on past failures and past successes for that matter. Not letting past at-bats affect future ones or defensive performance is one of the keys to succeeding in the major leagues, and the Brewers' trio of young outfielders proved they already have an impressive grasp on that mindset with their showing on Tuesday night.

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