The Moments That Doomed The Cubs In NLDS Game 2 vs Brewers

"A three-run homer is going to kill you. You can survive some solo home runs. Homers with men on base like that, you're going to have a tough time surviving them," Chicago manager Craig Counsell said. "The long ball at the rate he's giving them up right now with runners on base, that's going to be hard to overcome."

Chourio homers on an 0-2 pitch

Contreras took Imanaga deep in the third to put the Brewers in front before Daniel Palencia recorded the final out of that inning, then came back out to the mound for the fourth. He was on the verge of putting up a zero and keeping the Cubs within a run when he gave up a single to Joey Ortiz, the ninth batter in Milwaukee's lineup, brining Chourio to the plate with two on.

Palencia went right after the 21-year-old, firing two straight fastballs above 100 miles per hour right over the plate — both of which Chourio fouled off. Ahead in the count 0-2, Palencia decided to challenge Chourio again with the same pitch, and this time, Chourio got all of it.

The Brewers scored the third-most runs in Major League Baseball during the regular season, but they did not beat teams with home-run power, ranking 22nd with 166 long balls. After scoring nine runs without the benefit of a homer in Game 1, Milwaukee scored all seven of its runs on home runs in Game 2.

"We made a couple mistakes with multiple runners on base, after getting off to a great start," Counsell said. "You're not gonna win playoff games giving up two three-run homers."

Strikeouts pile up as offense stays cold

Suzuki's big early swing could have woken up the Cubs' lifeless offense, which has not scored more than three runs in a game all postseason. But Chicago managed just two hits the entire rest of the game, with Brewers pitching recording 11 strikeouts.

Rookie flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski came out of the Milwaukee bullpen throwing gas, with 30 pitches of at least 100 miles per hour, seven of which topped 103. Chad Patrick, Jared Koenig, Trevor Megill and Abner Uribe followed Misiorowski, and none of them allowed a hit as the Cubs made 15 straight outs to end the game.

Chicago was among MLB's best teams at avoiding strikeouts in the regular season, but the Cubs have gone down on strikes at least 11 times in all five of their playoff games. Uribe struck out the side in the ninth, causing Pete Crow-Armstrong to slam his bat and batting gloves to the ground on the stairs leading from the dugout to the clubhouse.

"Putting runs up in big league games is hard," Crow-Armstrong said. "They're out there throwing their best arms, and all those guys seem to be locked in. It's just our job to execute. I know I haven't done that. It's a pretty simple idea here. We go put more balls in play and we'll probably score more runs."