Addison Russell #27 of the Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs rallied for a comeback victory over Milwaukee for the second consecutive game on Wednesday, and it was Addison Russell who led the defending national champions to a 7-4 home win against the Brewers.
After Kris Bryant smacked a game-tying RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Russell blasted a three-run walk-off home run with two on to lead the Cubs to a three-game series win in a game that was delayed 55 minutes due to rain.
Russell’s homer into the left-field seats was the shortstop’s second-hardest hit, according to STATCAST, the ball having left his bat at 109 mph and traveled 375 feet.
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The Cubs (8-7) have thus won the series against the Brewers (8-8) 2-1 after losing the opener 6-3 at Wrigley Field on Monday. The reigning World series champions also lost three straight to the Pittsburgh Pirates before the series against Milwaukee.
“It’s been an emotional week,” manager Joe Maddon said of the Cubs’ long home-stand that featured the raising of the 2016 World Series banner and the presentation of their championship rings. “I like where we’re at and what we’re doing.”
Milwaukee led 3-0 in the top of the second inning thanks to a solo homer from Jett Bandy, and then 4-3 in the ninth. However, then came Bryant’s game-tying single to center off closer Neftali Feliz that allowed Jon Jay to score on a walk after reaching third on Miguel Montero’s single. Anthony Rizzo hit a groundout that allowed Bryant and Carl Edwards Jr. to advance, and then came Russell’s big hit, his second career walk-off. Russell’s first walk-off was a game-winning RBI double on May 26, 2015.
Brewers manager Craig Counsell, meanwhile, praised the Cubs for their offensive performance.
“Today I would say give the Cubs’ hitters a lot of credit,” Counsell said. “We made enough pitches today. They just did a nice job of staying alive and staying in counts in certain at-bats.”
Russell leads the Cubs with 12 RBIs.
The shortstop said he was confident his team could keep gaining momentum to secure more comeback victories like Wednesday’s.
“It seems like whenever you count us out, we just seem to have a spark,” Russell said. “That’s all it takes, just one hit, one walk, and we get rolling.”
After an off-day on Thursday, the Cubs next travel to Cincinnati on Friday for the opener of a three-game series against the Reds. Jon Lester will start for Chicago on the one-year anniversary of Jake Arrieta’s second career no-hitter. First pitch is at 7:10 pm EST.
The Brewers will host the Cardinals in the opener of a four-game series on Thursday at 8:10 pm EST. Righty Zach Davies will start for Milwaukee against Carlos Martinez.
Also on Wednesday, the New York Mets, (8-7) beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 in the middle game of their three-game home series and the Yankees (10-5) thrashed the Chicago White Sox 9-1 at home one day after losing 4-1 to snap an eight-game winning streak. The Yankees thus won the series against the White Sox 2-1, and will next visit Pittsburgh on Friday night at 7:05 pm EST.
The Mets next host the Phillies in the series finale at 7:05 pm EST on Thursday.
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