MILWAUKEE — Ben Brown experienced an immediate flash of irritation when he watched the flight of the ball off the bat.
The Milwaukee Brewers hadn’t managed a hit off the Chicago Cubs rookie right-hander Tuesday night at American Family Field when Willy Adames connected in the seventh inning on a two-strike, elevated fastball that caught too much of the zone. It represented one of Brown’s only mistakes, and the misfire with the Cubs clinging to a one-run lead appeared as if it would tie the game.
Center fielder Cody Bellinger timed the sequence perfectly, however, for a leaping snag to keep the ball in the park. Bellinger’s home run robbery preserved the Cubs lead — and Brown’s no-hitter. Brown threw his arms in the air in disbelief at the catch before regrouping to strike out the next batter on a full-count curveball to end the seventh.
Brown dazzled in seven no-hit innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts to set up the Cubs to end their five-game losing streak. They required extra innings, though, to secure a wild 6-3 win in the 10th.
“Belli looked like he jumped 20 feet up in the air and caught it and looked really good doing it,” Brown said. “He’s a beast.”
Bellinger realized in the sixth that Brown hadn’t allowed a hit and was hoping balls would be hit to him to help his teammate achieve the feat.
“I got a bead on it and at that point it’s just tracking the ball, tracking the wall and timing the jump,” Bellinger said. “I was just hoping it didn’t hit the overhang to give me a chance. Brown was amazing, electric stuff tonight. Just try to do my part.”
For seven innings, Brown was unhittable as he overpowered the Brewers, whose only baserunners came on two walks in the fifth.
Brown became the first pitcher age 24 or younger with a start of at least seven innings with no hits or runs and at least 10 strikeouts since Justin Verlander’s no-hitter for the Detroit Tigers on June 12, 2007, versus the Brewers. Brown is the first Cub to put up that line at that age since at least 1901.
Since allowing six runs in 1 2/3 innings in his major-league debut March 30, Brown has allowed only eight runs in 44 2/3 innings (1.61 ERA). In that span, he has given up one run or fewer in 10 of 12 appearances.
“He took that first outing and just wiped that away and it’s just been so, so good since and the confidence that he shows,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s a learner. He’s adapted to whatever he’s had to do and we’re getting a really good pitcher.”
The Brewers couldn’t solve Brown’s four-seam fastball/curveball combination. He generated 17 called strikes and six whiffs with his fastball and 10 whiffs on 20 swings against his curveball.
“It was cool to get some swing and miss on the heater — I haven’t gotten that a lot in the big leagues (with that pitch),” Brown said. “But I think the curveball was a game-changer today. When it was in zone, out of the zone, it was solid. Everything was working.”
Michael Busch’s home run in the third stood as the game’s lone run until controversy helped the Brewers tie the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Héctor Neris was called for a two-out balk on a would-be first-pitch strike to Adames, advancing Christian Yelich to second. Neris recovered and had Adames down to his final strike, but Adames connected on a splitter and dropped it into left field to tie the game. Adames was thrown out at second on the play to force extras.
“No, it’s not a balk. I came to a stop,” Neris told the Tribune. “I didn’t hold as long as they were expecting, but I was set and made sure I stopped and I threw the pitch. I checked the video and confirmed it’s not a balk.”
Assistant pitching coach Daniel Moskos and reliever Yency Almonte were ejected from the dugout after the inning for arguing the call.
“He did what you’re supposed to do: stop and change direction,” Counsell said. “The league doesn’t call this, doesn’t call this, doesn’t call this and then puts themselves in the middle of a game.”
The Cubs, though, found a way to move past the call, and a scuffling offense finally broke through with a big inning in the 10th.
A heads-up play by pinch runner Luis Vázquez allowed him to score from second when Mike Tauchman scorched a liner off Brewers reliever Trevor Megill’s right arm.
Vázquez scampered around third while the ball sat on the grass in front of the mound as Megill clutched his arm. By the time first baseman Owen Miller picked up the ball, Vázquez had slid across home plate for the go-ahead run.
The Cubs (28-27) poured on five runs in the 10th to mark their most in an inning since May 11, when they tallied seven runs in the fifth against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who walked in six runs in that inning. In the 14 games in between, the Cubs had only four innings in which they scored more than two runs.
“This is the team we’re supposed to be every day,” Neris said. “We’re still fighting.”
