Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (9/7/26): Brewers 4, Cubs 3 – Late Lead Slips Away

The Cubs traveled to American Family Field for a Labor Day matinee against the first-place Brewers not long after splitting four games at Wrigley. The road team held a one-run lead late in the game, but they could not finish the job and went down to defeat.

Starting pitcher Matthew Boyd and his counterpart Robert Gasser were sharp early, keeping things scoreless through four innings. Pedro Ramírez put Chicago ahead with a solo home run to left field in the top of the 5th inning.

Milwaukee evened the score in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by Garrett Mitchell. The North Siders went back in front when Alex Bregman hit a single off of Aaron Ashby that brought home Pete Crow-Armstrong and made it 2-1 in the 7th.

Boyd started the bottom of the 8th but had to come out after a walk and a double by Joey Ortiz put runners on second and third with nobody out. Ryan Zeferjahn took over and immediately gave up a go-ahead two-run single to Jackson Chourio. The Brewers added one more very important insurance run on a sacrifice fly by Christian Yelich to go up 4-2.

PCA hit home run number 41 against closer Trevor Megill in the top of the 9th to bring the Cubs within 4-3. That would be it, however, as Milwaukee closed out the win. (Box score) 

Key Moment

With the bullpen’s struggles, Craig Counsell tried to squeeze one more inning out of his starting pitcher. It was a tough spot either way he decided, but sticking with Boyd did not work out Monday.

Why the Cubs Lost

More bullpen issues and a failure to take advantage of quality scoring chances earlier in the game were the big contributors.

Stats That Matter

• Boyd did not deserve to lose this one: 7 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 7 K, and 2 BB.
• Crow-Armstrong also had two stolen bases, bringing him up to 35.
• Bregman reached base three times.

Bottom Line

The major difference between these two teams is clearly in the quality of the relief pitching. The Brewers feel very confident leaning on the bullpen, which is a luxury the Cubs just don’t have. It’s going to be an obvious Achilles’ heel the rest of the way.

On Deck

Game two of the series is Tuesday night at 6:40pm CT. David Peterson has a difficult task facing off against Jacob Misiorowski in a contest airing on Marquee with a radio broadcast on The Score.