Brewers waste a Corbin Burnes gem as Cubs take lead against Josh Hader in ninth and win

The Milwaukee Brewers' dynamic bullpen, after all, is fallible.

For the second time in three days, the Chicago Cubs took the lead in the ninth inning off closer Josh Hader and, this time around, they kept it.

PJ Higgins hit a go-ahead RBI double with two outs in the top of the ninth and, unlike two games prior, Cubs closer David Robertson held on for the save to send the Brewers to a 2-1 defeat and series loss.

The Brewers led, 1-0, entering the eighth. With regular setup man Devin Williams seemingly unavailable, Brad Boxberger pitched the eighth in relief of Burnes and allowed the game-tying run when Christopher Morel tripled off the top of the wall in right-center and scored on Rafael Ortega’s one-out single.

Milwaukee put the go-ahead run on third base with one out in the bottom of the eighth but Willy Adames popped out in foul territory and, after an intentional walk of Rowdy Tellez, Luis Urías struck out swinging to drop the offense to 4 for 24 in the series with runners in scoring position.

BOX SCORE: Cubs 2, Brewers 1

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Hader opened the ninth by walking Patrick Wisdom — 0 for 3 with three strikeouts to that point on the day — on four pitches before recording a pair of strikeouts. In a 1-1 count, he threw Higgins a slider that stayed over the plate and the Cubs catcher drove it past first baseman Rowdy Tellez to score Wisdom, who had stolen second.

The loss made waste of a gem from Milwaukee starting pitcher Corbin Burnes, who went seven shutout innings allowing just three hits and striking out 10.

He didn’t face a runner in scoring position until the fifth and sixth, when he worked around a double for a scoreless inning both times.

Keston Hiura, making his second career start in left field, came to Burnes’ aid when, following Alfonso Rivas’ one-out double in the fifth, he made a spectacular grab as he crashed face-first into the outfield fence to save extra bases and a run.

Burnes struck out a pair of batters in his final inning in the seventh, finishing with no runs on just three hits and one walk with 10 strikeouts.

The outing marked Burnes’ 18th career game with double-digit strikeouts, tying Yovani Gallardo for the franchise record.

The Brewers didn’t manage a base runner off Burnes’ counterpart, Cubs starter Adrian Sampson, until Christian Yelich led off the fourth with a single. The Chicago righthander had faced the minimum through 4⅔ innings until Hiura snapped that streak by launching a 3-2 pitch 440 feet to left-center, putting the Brewers up, 1-0.

Sampson finished with one of the best starts of his career, going 5⅔ and allowing only one run on four hits while striking out five and walking none.

But that was all the offense the Brewers could muster up on the day to send the team to a frustrating defeat against their rivals.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Brewers waste Corbin Burnes gem in 2-1 loss to Chicago Cubs