Brewers lose their wind in back-and-forth game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field

CHICAGO – Perhaps a spell has been cast over the Milwaukee Brewers in recent weeks.

Whenever the offense is performing at a high level, the pitching hasn't. Whenever the pitching is clicking, the offense is scuffling. The Brewers' machine of operation hasn't been well-oiled for much of the month of August and the rust stemming from that is showing.

The result? A clunky stretch that has seen more losses than wins as they just can't quite seem to get both sides of the game in sync to make for a smooth ride.

Box score: Cubs 8, Brewers 7

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There's no easy fix or magic wand to wave to match up the timing of both the pitching and hitting; as outfielder Hunter Renfroe described it from the visitor's clubhouse at Wrigley Field, that's sometimes how the wind blows in baseball.

Oh how the Brewers got a hard lesson in wind-blowing as it relates to baseball Friday afternoon.

On the heels of one of Brewers' best-pitched series of the season in which they only eight runs in regulation innings over four games against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the best offense in the league, the conditions on the north side of Chicago were conducive for a slugfest. Put the ball in the air and let the Windy City breeze work its magic.

With the wind at their backs, the Cubs  scored eight runs in the first six innings, three times erasing a deficit and holding on for an 8-7 win over the Brewers.

"It’s kind of one of those days where the ball’s flying everywhere a little bit," Renfroe said. "I think we swung the bat well today, just didn’t come up with enough. It’s one of those days where everybody’s hitting a little bit and the wind’s blowing out and you get some homers."

The decisive long ball of the five home runs hit on the day between the two teams came off the bat of Cubs outfielder Christopher Morel, a two-run, two-out, two-strike wedge lofted to left that erased a 7-6 Brewers lead.

With a righty-stacked lineup to face lefthanded starting pitcher Aaron Ashby, the Brewers opted to go with another southpaw, Hoby Milner, first out of the bullpen in the sixth opposed to righthanded options Peter Strzelecki and Brad Boxberger with the hope that he could work through the bottom third of the order.

If Milner could accomplish that, the game could be turned over to the Brewers back-end relievers. He came one strike short.

"They’ve got righties. It’s the bottom part of the order that we’re trying to sneak through there," Counsell said. "Definitely trying to get through that part of the lineup. The game with the conditions today, things are gonna happen. He threw a whole bunch of good pitches and made one bad pitch."

Ashby fell victim in part to the wind and in part to self-inflicted wounds, turning in a line of five innings and six runs allowed despite striking out eight with no walks.

"I thought Aaron threw the ball pretty well," Counsell said. "He was definitely in the strike zone. No walks to his ledger. The play that hurt us was the first play of the game."

Multiple Brewers alluded to that opening play in the bottom of the first. Nick Madrigal hit a chopper to Rowdy Tellez in the hole at first but Ashby was late in getting over to the base for what became an infield single.

The Cubs jumped in front, 3-2, later that inning on three consecutive two-out hits when Ashby should have already been back in the dugout with the 2-0 lead provided by Andrew McCutchen's two-run blast in the top half intact.

"Costly play, costly error on my part," Ashby said. "Just not getting over quick enough cost me three runs."

The Brewers did themselves no favors after the Ashby miscue, either.  A Willson Contreras grounder likely would have been a double play that erased Madrigal, but he had advanced to second on a wild pitch. The wind got under a Franmil Reyes fly to right and it wound up over the head of Renfroe for a triple that ricocheted off the ivy-covered brick wall and got past both Renfroe and Tyrone Taylor, allowing him to take third. Had Reyes been on second, he wouldn't have scored on Ian Happ's infield hit moments later, but he was able to cruise home to put Chicago up, 3-2.

"I thought it was a pop up. for sure," Renfroe said. "Then obviously we know how the wind’s blowing and it carried, carried and carried."

Tellez and Renfroe both homered in the third to retake the lead for the Brewers. Renfroe's in particular was a majestic blast that crashed into the video board atop the bleachers in left-center. It made it a 5-4 lead at the time for Milwaukee, which led after the top of the first, third and sixth innings.

The wind just kept sweeping those leads away.

Patrick Wisdom turned a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 Chicago lead with a two-run homer, aided at least in part by the breeze, off Ashby with one out in the fifth. Opponents entered the day batting .339/.400/.565 slash against Ashby the third time through and those numbers only rose after Friday, but Counsell liked the what he was seeing going into the inning from his starter, who had retired eight straight.

"I thought he was throwing the ball well," Counsell said. "His pitches, he was in good shape. That ball, that was probably a fly ball (without the wind). I thought he threw the ball pretty well that inning."

The Brewers reclaimed the lead in the top of the sixth with a Christian Yelich RBI groundout and Willy Adames’ go-ahead infield single, but Morel's homer snatched it right back for Chicago. The Cubs final three relievers, Michael Rucker, Mark Leiter Jr. and Brandon Hughes, faced the minimum over the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

The Brewers were coming off series split against the Dodgers, the team with the best record in baseball, which was considered a positive outcome all things considered. Tread water, the thinking is, against teams like the Dodgers and make up your ground against squads lower in the standings such as the Cubs.

The only problem: Milwaukee has had more issues of late with the latter group than the former.

The Brewers fell to 6-8 on the season against Chicago (51-67) and have lost 10 of their last 13 against the Cubs, Pirates and Reds–the bottom three teams in the division standings.

"I believe that we’re a better team," Ashby said. "I think it’s just baseball, you know? That’s probably the beautiful thing about this game, that it can go either way at any point in time. It’s just one of those things."

Just one of those things and difficult to explain, indeed.

It's also one of those things the Brewers will need to turn around, and soon.

Brewers lineup vs. Cubs

Christian Yelich, DH

Willy Adames, SS

Rowdy Tellez, 1B

Andrew McCutchen, LF

Hunter Renfroe, RF

Kolten Wong, 2B

Luis Urías, 3B

Victor Caratini, C

Tyrone Taylor, CF

--

Aaron Ashby, P

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers lose their wind in tight game against Cubs at Wrigley Field