Ian Happ’s playoff moment had been nine years in the making.
The longest-tenured Chicago Cubs player had endured a rough return to the postseason. Entering Thursday’s elimination game, Happ had only two hits and struck out 11 times in 21 at-bats. Manager Craig Counsell spoke often leading up to the playoffs that players must let the moment come to them and not force.
Happ seized his in the first inning of Thursday’s Game 4 of the National League Division Series, pouncing on Milwaukee Brewers starter Freddy Peralta’s 1-1 fastball and depositing it into the Wrigley FIeld right-field bleachers for a go-ahead three-run home run, setting off the 41,770 fans like a firecracker.
For the third time this postseason, the battle-tested Cubs staved off their season ending. Thanks to Happ’s blast and a masterful performance by left-hander Matthew Boyd, the Cubs’ 6-0 win over the Brewers sets up a win-or-go-home Game 5 in the NLDS.
The deciding game of the series is at 7:08 p.m. Saturday at American Family Field in Milwaukee.
“The guys have been carrying me all postseason, so to contribute in that moment and give us the lead was awesome for me,” Happ said. “To do it in this atmosphere, in this stadium, in front of these fans — they’ve been here every day. It doesn’t matter if it’s Tuesday in the middle of June, they’re here. There’s 40,000 people here. To give them that experience and to hear that roar was really special.”
Game 4 marked another chapter in the resiliency the Cubs have shown this season, particularly in the playoffs after batting back from a 2-0 NLDS deficit.
Hours before the Cubs’ Game 3 victory Wednesday, Happ remarked how the team’s performance at Wrigley — where they had the sixth-best home record in the regular season and are now 4-1 in the playoffs — has been key to their success. The Cubs played loose, error-free ball, and the pressure now shifts to the Brewers to avoid their season ending at home. The Cubs became the 18th team to force a Game 5 in a best-of-five series after the opponent went up 2-0, most recently in the 2019 ALDS featuring the Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros.
“I mean, it affected the game, this crowd affected the game the last two games,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “It affected the way we played for sure. We’ve got a really young team. I think everybody knows that. Maybe by far the youngest team in the postseason. That kind of stuff emotionally can affect guys. They can start to play a little too hard. This game is a game of precision, and the Cubs’ experience and what they’ve been through, they were better in this environment for sure.”
Happ’s career track record against Peralta has largely been one-sided. In 32 regular-season at-bats, Happ collected just two hits off Peralta for a .063 average and 14 strikeouts, his most against any pitcher. One of those hits was a home run, and Happ bested him again in Game 1, taking him deep in the loss.
As 41,770 fans chanted “Fredd-y! Fredd-y!” Happ rocketed Peralta’s fastball to the bleachers to set off pandemonium. After Peralta opened the at-bat throwing two changeups, Happ was looking to be ready for a fastball to do damage against.
“He’s had my number quite a bit,” Happ said. “But I got him in Milwaukee on a fastball so I knew he was going to go changeup, changeup to start the at-bat and it was probably going to be a lot more soft stuff.”
The Cubs’ 3-0 lead gave Boyd a cushion he didn’t surrender. The veteran lefty redeemed his rough Game 1 start on short rest that lasted just two outs. He held the Brewers to two hits in 4 2/3 shutout innings, working around three walks and striking out six. Daniel Palencia cleaned up in relief, stranding runners on second and third by forcing Jackson Chourio to pop out on the first pitch to end the fifth.
“He delivered a great one tonight,” Counsell said of Boyd. “I know it was really important to him after Game 1, how he pitched tonight, and he gave us exactly what we needed.
“Danny gave kind of a mid-game save, so to speak … he put the game in order. It was a job well done.”
The Cubs tacked on a run in the sixth on Matt Shaw’s RBI single and another in the seventh with Kyle Tucker’s solo homer. Michael Busch hit his fourth home run of the postseason, and third in the NLDS, with a solo shot in the eighth.
Tucker produced back-to-back two-hit games while connecting on his first home run since Sept. 2, his last game before going on the injured list with a left calf strain.
“I feel good, I’m swinging at pitches I want to swing at and laying off some of the other ones,” Tucker said. “It’s not always going to go your way, but as long as you can go up there and have a chance and put yourself in good spots, you’re at least giving yourself a shot.”
The Cubs’ ability to keep finding a way to put quick pressure on the Brewers has been a constant in the NLDS. The Cubs lineup has been making a first-inning lead look easy. For the fourth straight game, the Cubs used a home run in the opening frame to give them a quick lead.
“Offensively we did a really nice job of putting pressure on them often, and the crowd picked up on that, I thought, consistently, and they were awesome with it,” Counsell said. “The crowd was incredible tonight. I’ve never seen a baseball game like that. That was just amazing what they did tonight.”
The Cubs are the first team in MLB history with a home run in the first inning in four straight games during the same postseason, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Happ, Seiya Suzuki and Busch, twice, have provided the slug that has given their starters at least a little breathing room.
Nico Hoerner’s seven-game hitting streak to begin his postseason career is the longest by a Cubs hitter since Ryne Sandberg’s 10-game streak between 1984 and ’89.
The winner of Saturday’s Game 5 will advance to the NL Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Counsell had a simple message to his team after the win: Pack your bags.
“That’s all we wanted to do today was pack our bags,” he said. “We get to pack our bags.”