It was walks that hurt the Cubs in Friday’s loss against the Brewers, but in Saturday’s game, it was the long ball that sunk the Cubs.
The Cubs and Brewers were tied at 4 entering the bottom of the eighth inning with reliever Scott Effross in to face Manny Pina, who had already gone deep against starter Justin Steele in the second inning.
Effross got ahead of Pina in the count, but on the third pitch of the at-bat, hung a slider over the heart of the plate and the Brewers’ catcher didn’t miss it. Pina’s second homer of the game gave the Brewers the late 5-4 lead.