Cubs 9, Brewers 5

Chicago trails the Pirates by two games in the race for home-field advantage in the wild-card game and is six back of St. Louis.

This one didn’t start out well. After a strike out, Domingo Santana singled to center field to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead.

The significance of the Cubs’ seminal series against the MLB-leading Cardinals over the weekend reverberated into Monday’s series opener against the buzz-less Brewers. That year, they gave up runs in the top of the first at home quite a few times. The Castr-O-Meter is up to.264, and his walk-up music gets everybody in the dugout and crowd in a good mood. And Monday night, the Cubs made two more errors – and they wound up not mattering at all.

Brandon Phillips had three hits including a first-inning RBI single.

You could see Fowler pointing at the dugout immediately after the call.

After falling behind 2-0, the Cubs responded with three runs in the second inning.

Soler’s first career pinch-hit home run broke the game open in the seventh inning after the Cubs snapped a 4-4 tie in the fifth with a pair of runs.

“It’s already over”, said Montero, who singled home a run during the Cubs’ on the way to a 9-5 win over the Brewers. Since being bumped off shortstop, Castro has excelled as a part-time second baseman, hitting.419 (31-for-74) with 17 RBI in his last 25 games.

Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant had three hits apiece Monday for the Cubs, who have won six of seven.

The Cubs counter with right-hander Jake Arrieta (19-6, 1.96), who will be seeking to become a 20-game victor for the first time in his career.

Also, it was nice to see Rizzo go 3-for-3. The Brewers have lost five of their last seven when scoring more than three runs.

“Right now, Starlin is remarkably into the moment, and I love it”, Maddon said after a 9-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Just over two years since the trade, Arrieta has developed into one of baseball’s best pitchers and a legitimate candidate for the NL Cy Young Award, which no Cub has won since Greg Maddux in 1992. Scooter Gennett worked a full count before flying out, and Logan Schafer followed suit, going to 3-2 before walking.

Milwaukee’s Adam Lind tied the game at 4 with a two-run homer in the fifth inning off Cubs starter Jason Hammel (9-6), who allowed three earned runs over his five innings. He’s tentatively in line to pitch the second game of the division series behind [Jon] Lester, with [Jake] Arrieta lined up to pitch the wild-card game.”It’s very fluid”, Maddon said of Hammel’s spot. “There’s a lot of discussion involved in that part of the rotation”. A better team should have lit him up on a night like this.

Second Star: A month and a half ago, I felt that I was done giving Starlin Castro stars. The Brewers need a catcher with the last name of Multiply, so they can have a battery of… well, you know.

Certainly, the Cubs have a starting pitching problem heading into the playoffs. His homer tonight was absolutely crushed and sealed the game for the Cubs. As the Cubs may learn the hard way, that’s easier said than done. So the standings remain as they were after Sunday’s contests.

Brewers note: Jimmy Nelson was originally slated to make this start.