Brewers at Cubs
The drama is building on the North Side of Chicago as the Cubs surge toward their first postseason appearance since 2008. Chicago aims for its 13th win in 14 games when it looks to complete a three-game sweep of the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday.
Miguel Montero’s 10th-inning home run lifted the Cubs to a 3-2 victory Wednesday — their major league-leading 11th walk-off win of the season and their sixth triumph over Milwaukee in a two-week span. Chicago has matched its longest winning streak of the season with six straight to move a season-best 16 games above .500 and open a 4 1/2-game lead over San Francisco for the second wild card. Milwaukee has dropped four of five and 10 of its last 14. Cubs ace Jon Lester hopes to continue his dominance against the Brewers after allowing three hits over seven shutout innings in the first meeting this season.
TV: 2:20 p.m. ET, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), ABC 7 (Chicago)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers RH Tyler Cravy (0-3, 5.40 ERA) vs. Cubs LH Jon Lester (7-8, 3.22)
Cravy is in his third stint in the big leagues and set for his fourth major-league start. The 26-year-old took Kyle Lohse’s spot in the rotation last time around and was tagged for six runs over five innings in a loss to St. Louis. Left-handed batters are hitting .313 against Cravy with four extra-base hits in 32 at-bats.
Lester has cranked it up a notch since the start of July, going 3-2 with a 1.79 ERA over his last seven starts. The 31-year-old has gone at least seven innings in each of those outings and allowed two runs or fewer in six of them. Lester is just 5-6 at home despite a 3.21 over 14 starts.
WALK-OFFS
1. Cubs 3B Kris Bryant is 9-for-29 during a nine-game hitting streak and hit his 16th home run on Wednesday.
2. Brewers RF Ryan Braun went 3-for-4 with his 250th career homer on Wednesday and is one home run shy of tying Robin Yount’s franchise mark.
3. Montero has hit safely in 15 straight games against the Brewers, going 18-for-53 during that stretch.