Matthew Boyd on Thursday pitched two-hit ball into the fifth inning as the Chicago Cubs shut down the Milwaukee Brewers for a 6-0 victory that pushed their National League Division Series to a decisive Game 5.
Ian Happ, Kyle Tucker and Michael Busch homered for Chicago, delighting a rollicking Wrigley Field crowd of 41,770. Busch went deep for the second straight game and the third time in the series.
“It’s cool that the brightest lights have brought the best out of a lot of our guys,” said Nico Hoerner, who had three of Chicago’s 10 hits.
Photo: AFP
The Cubs were on the brink of elimination after they dropped the first two games in Milwaukee, but they held on for a 4-3 victory on Wednesday before making the most of a sharp performance by Boyd and four relievers in Game 4.
Next up is the finale of the best-of-five series in Milwaukee today.
The winners are to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series.
“We’ve got to regroup,” Brewers star Christian Yelich said. “We’ve got one more game to play. We’ve got to make sure we’re ready to go.”
The Brewers, who went 97-65 this season for the best record in the major leagues, finished with three hits. They were one for 13 with runners in scoring position and left 13 on base overall in the two games at Wrigley.
“They’re built to be great, and they played great these two games,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. “Hopefully the tables will turn when we get into Game 5 at our place, but we have to find out how bad we’re going to fight back.”
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