Milwaukee Brewers faced off against the Chicago Cubs this weekend as the rivalry went to Wrigley Field for three games. All three games featured less than favorable conditions for both teams. Milwaukee won Game 1 in dominating fashion, but on Saturday and Sunday, they scored a combined two runs through 24 innings of baseball. That’s not going to get it done. Bats went suddenly quiet, and we will all hope that it was due to a combination of good pitching and bad weather. Brewers and Cubs are knotted at six apiece for wins in the series with Chicago having a two game lead on Milwaukee.

Sunday: Cubs 4 Brewers 1
In what was a theme of the weekend, Brewers had runners on base but they could not actually bring them in to score. They tied up the game at one after a misplay by Kyle Schwarber, but they could do anything more than that. Jon Lester pitched well again for Chicago who needed after the 15 inning marathon. Brewers received their first solid outing from Jhoulys Chacin in a while. Too bad that Adrian Houser made one bad pitch to Kris Bryant who took him deep in the 7th inning.

Saturday: Cubs 2 Brewers 1 in 15 innings
Chicago uses their homefield to their advantage. The game was miserable. One of the worst I’ve been at in my entire life, and we definitely thought in the stands there would be some type of delay… Nope. It never happened. Cubs’ ground crew kept laying sand around and the game went on instead of waiting a few hours to let the rain subside. If the teams waited it out or started the game later, the conditions would have been cold yet not rainy.

This is not an excuse for the Brewers though. They had every opportunity to win this game early on. They had runners on in almost every inning, and they kept hitting into double plays. In a close, tight ball game, you cannot have that. Burch Smith pitched really well, and he made one bad pitch to Willy Contreras to lose the game.

Friday: Brewers 7 Cubs 0
I love how Ryan Braun owns Jose Quintana. Braun had a hurt hamstring for Saturday and Sunday that caused him to only pinch hit for the rest of the weekend. Considering that they only faced lefties this weekend, that definitely affected the lineup. Brewers did a great job of tacking on runs after Braun’s solo home run versus Quintana. Gio Gonzalez pitched very well in his third outing with the team.

Next up: Brewers head to Philadelphia where the fans might go to the Citizens Bank Ballpark for therapy after what happened to the Sixers. They bring cold weather as it will be chilly in Philly with rain expected early on with a chance to cause an early delay. With the bullpen taxed, the Brewers will bring in Freddy Peralta at the start of the game. We’ll see how that goes for him. The Phillies send Aaron Nola to the mound. Their ace has not been solid this year but did pitch well his last night out.

Charlie.