Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs

Three times in the first four innings, the Brewers spotted their ace a lead. Twice, Jacob Misiorowski let it get away.  But the third time, he held firm, helping Milwaukee tighten its grip on the NL Central. Facing one of Major League Baseball’s most potent lineups and fighting his command on another slippery mound on the road, Misiorowski buckled down after the Brewers claimed a one-run lead in the top of the fourth and finished a hard-fought, 92-pitch outing with a scoreless inning that propelled Milwaukee toward a 9-5 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Wednesday. A second straight come-from-behind victory boosted the Brewers’ lead in the division to nine games with 22 to play, and they also lead the season series against the Cubs, 6-3. Milwaukee would clinch the tiebreaker over the Cubs with a victory in any of the teams’ four remaining head-to-head matchups.  Jackson Chourio finished a triple shy of the cycle on a four-hit night and five relievers pitched a scoreless inning apiece on another terrific night for the Brewers’ bullpen behind Misiorowski, who surrendered five runs on five hits in his four innings, with four walks and five strikeouts in a rare dud amid what has been a brilliant season. “I think we have a marvelous group here,” Chourio said. “Today didn’t happen to be the best day for him on the mound, but the group here was able to pick him up.” Most of the damage against Misiorowski was courtesy of Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman, who tied the game with a two-run homer in the first inning and then hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the second as the Cubs took a 5-3 lead.  It marked the first time this season that Misiorowski yielded more than three earned runs in an outing. Since 1913, when earned runs became official in both leagues (and excluding openers), Misiorowski’s 25 consecutive starts with three or fewer earned runs tied for the third-longest streak to open a season.