Cubs use 4-run 1st inning to top
the Brewers 4-3 and avoid NL Division Series sweep
[October 09, 2025]
By JAY COHEN
CHICAGO (AP) — Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a tiebreaking two-run single
and the Chicago Cubs avoided a sweep by holding off the Milwaukee
Brewers for a 4-3 victory in Game 3 of their NL Division Series on
Wednesday.
Crow-Armstrong's two-out swing was part of a four-run first inning
for Chicago — continuing a wild trend. Michael Busch kicked off the
rally by becoming the first player in major league history with
multiple leadoff homers in a single postseason series.
The matchup of NL Central rivals is the first postseason series in
which both teams scored in the first in each of the first three
games. Game 4 is on Thursday night.
“Yeah, I’m going to tell our guys it’s the first inning every inning
tomorrow,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “I think that’s our
best formula right now offensively.”
Jake Bauers rallied Milwaukee with an RBI single in the fourth and a
leadoff drive in the seventh. He started at first base in place of
Andrew Vaughn, who hit a three-run homer in the Brewers' 7-3 victory
in Game 2 on Monday night.
Milwaukee loaded the bases in the eighth, but Brad Keller escaped
the jam when he struck out Bauers on a foul tip on a 97.1 mph
fastball. Keller then retired the side in order in the ninth for the
save.
“He’s got a great fastball. He got it by me,” Bauers said.
Looking to sweep their way to the franchise’s first trip to the NL
Championship Series since 2018, Milwaukee jumped in front in the
first.
With runners on first and second with one out, William Contreras hit
a mile-high popup that Busch lost in the sun before it landed in the
infield for a single. Sal Frelick followed with a sacrifice fly off
Jameson Taillon.
Chicago got the run right back when Busch drove a full-count cutter
from Quinn Priester deep to right-center, delighting the crowd of
40,737 at Wrigley Field. It was the first baseman’s team-high third
homer of the postseason.
Busch said he had to move on right away after the miscue with the
popup in the top of the first.
“Just tried to reset,” he said. “It’s a long game and there’s a lot
of outs, and just tried to remind myself just to have a good
at-bat.”
A single by Nico Hoerner and walks for Kyle Tucker and Ian Happ
loaded the bases for Crow-Armstrong, who chased Priester with a
liner to right. Happ made it 4-1 when he scampered home on a wild
pitch from Nick Mears.
[to top of second column] |
Chicago Cubs' Kyle Tucker hits a single during the seventh inning of
Game 3 of baseball's National League Division Series against the
Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Chicago. (AP
Photo/Erin Hooley)
The 23-year-old Crow-Armstrong is batting .227 (5
for 22) with 11 strikeouts in six games in his first postseason. But
the All-Star center fielder also hit a key RBI single off Yu Darvish
in a clinching 3-1 victory over San Diego in the wild-card round.
“I’m pretty fortunate in a couple of these elimination games to just
have pretty nice opportunities in front of me with guys on base, and
I think that makes this job just a little bit easier sometimes,”
Crow-Armstrong said.
It was a rough homecoming for Priester after a breakout performance
this season. The 25-year-old right-hander, who grew up in the
Chicago area, threw 39 pitches, 21 for strikes.
“Very frustrating. Very frustrated with that first inning, the only
inning,” Priester said. “Command wasn’t good. My stuff wasn’t coming
out the way I wanted it to and ultimately it falls on to me to make
an adjustment.”
Taillon surrendered Bauers’ run-scoring single in the fourth. But
the veteran right-hander limited the damage when he retired Joey
Ortiz on a grounder to third, stranding runners on second and third.
The Brewers went 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left
seven runners on base. The Cubs went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring
position and also stranded seven baserunners.
“Oftentimes when you see close games, you look at the runners in
scoring position and how successful you were,” Brewers manager Pat
Murphy said. “Yeah, we didn’t get the big hit. We did hit some balls
hard, but credit to them and what they did in the first inning to do
just enough to win.”
Up next
Both managers declined to announce their starting pitcher for
Thursday.
Brewers right-hander Freddy Peralta and Cubs left-hander Matthew
Boyd got the ball for Game 1 on Saturday. Peralta threw 95 pitches
while striking out nine in 5 2/3 innings. Boyd recorded just two
outs in the loss, throwing 21 of his 30 pitches for strikes.
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