Covering the bases 7/29/2025: Brewers 9, Cubs 3
In Game 2 of the big series against the Chicago Cubs at American Family Field, the Milwaukee Brewers came out 9-3 winners. Not only did that keep the Brewers with the best record in MLB at 64-43, but it gave them a two-game cushion over the second-place Cubs in the NL Central entering Wednesday's series finale.
Let's take a spin around the bases.
FIRST BASE: Chourio's injury
The Brewers seem to appear to have escaped a more serious situation with Jackson Chourio, who pulled into third base a bit gingerly on a triple in the bottom of the fifth inning. Chourio simply had a spasm in his right hamstring. The Chourio and manager Pat Murphy were noncomittal on whether Chourio would be in Wednesday's lineup, but Chourio appeared to be in good spirits.
SECOND BASE: Defense rests
Neither team was overly sharp defensively, but the Cubs made some costly mistakes. Entering the game tied for the fourth-fewest errors in MLB with 44, the Cubs had three miscues, with two coming from top defenders. The first key error was when center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong simply dropped a Christian Yelich fly ball in the fifth inning as he was making a catch near the warning track and the Brewers up 2-1. That put Yelich and William Contreras on second and third, with Vaughn immediately driving in Yelich with a single to center. After a walk and a strikeout, pinch-hitter Caleb Durbin hit a sacrifice fly to score Yelich, making it 5-1. In the sixth inning, Hoerner couldn't snare Contreras' liner to the second baseman that resulted in runners on first and second. After Yelich walked, that brough up Vaughn, who hit his slam.
THIRD BASE: Quality Priester
OK, so he came up one out shy of qualifying for a quality start. Still, right-hander Quinn Priester came up big for the Brewers, going 5⅔ inning, surrendering a pair of runs on eight hits and two walks, striking out three. Priester, acquired in April when the Brewers' rotation was extremely thin, won his ninth straight decision to improve to 10-2. The Brewers have won Priester's last 11 outings. Left-hander Aaron Ashby came on after Priester allowed a one-out solo homer to Nico Hoerner, a double to Ian Happ and a single to Dansby Swanson before striking out Reese McGuire for the second out in the sixth. A day after Ashby was the only reliever not to be used by manager Pat Murphy, Ashby not only escaped that threat by getting Matt Shaw to pop out, but then finished the game for a 3⅓-inning save, his second of the season – both of the three-inning variety.
HOME PLATE: Valuable Vaughn
While Priester was an under-the-radar trade pickup who has turned into a central figure in the rotation, Andrew Vaughn was rescued from the dredges of Triple-A with the Chicago White Sox and has been rewarding the Brewers for taking a chance on him. Vaughn crushed a first-pitch grand slam in the sixth inning off Cubs reliever Ryan Pressly to change a 5-2 game into a 9-2 rout. That was the icing on a 3-for-3, six-RBI night for Vaughn, who had a .189/.218/.314 slash line with four homers and 15 RBIs in 48 games with the White Sox. With Tuesday's performance, Vaughn is slashing .375/.439/.771 with five homers and 21 RBIs in 15 games with the Brewers. All three of his hits came on the first pitch.
