Ian Happ hit a tiebreaking two-run home run in the eighth inning to propel the visiting Chicago Cubs past the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3 on Saturday.
Michael Busch also hit a two-run homer and Pete Crow-Armstrong delivered an RBI for the Cubs, who evened the three-game series after losing 4-2 on Friday night.
Luke Little (3-1) earned the win after escaping a seventh-inning jam.
Porter Hodge worked the eighth and Hector Neris secured his 11th save after striking out Tyler Black and Brice Turang with runners on first and second.
Happ delivered the eventual game-winning blast off of Brewers right-hander Joel Payamps (1-4), who walked Seiya Suzuki one batter earlier to start the inning.
Milwaukee, which had won a season-high-tying five straight games entering Saturday, got two hits and an RBI from both Turang and William Contreras.
The game remained tied at 3-3 entering the eighth after the Cubs snuffed out the Brewers’ double steal attempt with runners on first and third and two outs.
Little tagged out Andruw Monasterio near home plate to end a brief rundown, which started when Turang strayed too far off of first base following his two-out single.
Milwaukee outhit Chicago 11-8 and accounted for all three of the game’s stolen bases.
The Cubs led 2-0 after Busch hit a two-run shot on the game’s second pitch but squandered their lead after a disastrous defensive third inning.
Chicago let a sure second out slip when Nico Hoerner threw too late to third base trying to nab Frelick, who was caught in a rundown between second and third after Monasterio tapped one back to Cubs starter Justin Steele.
Frelick slid in safely at third, while Monasterio took second on the play. Turang plated Frelick with a bunt hit before Contreras blooped a game-tying single into center field.
A frustrated Steele screamed in the dugout after striking out Christian Yelich and Willy Adames to end the inning.
The Chicago left-hander wound up pitching three more innings and retired the last seven batters he faced. Steele was charged with three runs on seven hits over six innings. He struck out five without walking a batter.
Brewers starter Tobias Myers also surrendered three runs on seven hits across six frames, striking out six and walking two.
The Cubs went up 3-2 in the fourth inning on Crow-Armstrong’s two-out RBI single. Milwaukee answered in the bottom of the frame when Frelick legged out an RBI fielder’s choice to make it 3-3.
–Field Level Media
