<p>MILWAUKEE — Yellow and Blue streamers fell from the ceiling, and the Brewers stormed the field. A line of Cubs players looked on silently from the visitor's dugout at American Family Field. </p><p>Their postseason run had just ended with a 3-1 loss to the Brewers on Saturday in Game 5 of the National League Division Series.</p><p>It was the Cubs’ fourth elimination game of the postseason, and those back-against-the-wall circumstances had brought the best out of the team in the first three. But the magic didn't extend to the last game of the series.</p><p>“The finality of it, the stress of it, that's all there,” manager Craig Counsell said before the game. “But if you flip it to know that, ‘Man, this is what I worked so hard for,’ that's when you get to a place that your best self comes out. And that's all you can ask.”</p><p>The Cubs wavered, their plans to hop on a plane after the game in Milwaukee dashed. And the Brewers claimed their first postseason series victory in seven years to win a date with the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series.</p><p>It wasn’t certain for much of the close contest Saturday, however, which team would deal the final blow.</p><p>The long series set up a two-sided bullpen day Saturday.</p><p>The openers happened to be relievers who had each played for both teams in their careers.</p><p>For the Cubs, Drew Pomeranz, who hadn’t allowed a baserunner all postseason, earned the assignment. For the Brewers, it was All-Star closer Trevor Megill, who returned from a strained right flexor on the last day of the regular season.</p><p>“Both sides are kind of acknowledging that the first inning has been a pretty big inning in this series,” manager Craig Counsell said before the game.</p><p>In the first four games of the series, 60% of the teams’ combined run-scoring occurred in the first inning.</p><p>On Saturday, however, for the first time in the NLDS, the Cubs didn’t score in the first inning, as Megill retired the top of the Cubs’ lineup in order.</p><p>Then another first: Pomeranz gave up a solo home run to William Contreras.</p><p>That made the Cubs’ immediate response all the more important. The Brewers brought in flame-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski for the second inning. And as soon as he threw a fastball over the plate, on his second pitch of the outing, Cubs slugger Seiya Suzuki tied up the game with a solo shot of his own.</p><p>The Brewers have been so good at capitalizing on their opponents’ mistakes all year – and in Game 1 of the NLDS turned an error by Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner into four unearned runs.</p><p>So, when Cubs shortstop committed an error in the third inning, his high throw pulling first baseman Michael Busch off the bag, the next play became pivotal.</p><p>Right-hander Colin Rea induced the Brewers’ Jackson Chourio to hit a grounder to Hoerner, and he and Swanson turned a double play to erase the blunder.</p><p>In the fourth, however, the lead swung back to the Brewers, thanks again to the long ball. Rea missed over the middle with a cutter to Andrew Vaughn, who smoked it on a line over the left-field wall.</p><p>Then Sal Frelick beat out a single on a soft ground ball up the middle. And Caleb Durbin moved Frelick to third with a low liner into center field. Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong didn’t field it cleanly and after scrambling to grab the rebound, he rushed the throw in, allowing Durbin to advance to second.</p><p>Rea then issued a walk to load the bases. Counsell turned to Daniel Palencia, who he dubbed his “fireman” or middle-of-the game closer. Palencia lived up to the unofficial title and escaped with a grounder from Joey Ortiz.</p><p>The Cubs weren’t going down easily.</p><p>They put two runners on with no outs in the sixth, with a single and a hit by pitch. After Brewers left-hander Aaron Ashby struck out Cubs designated hitter Kyle Tucker, Brewers manager Pat Murphy called in right-hander Chad Patrck to face Suzuki.</p><p>Suzuki hit a line drive to left field, but it was caught at the warning track. Patrick then struck out Ian Happ and fist-pumed to celebrate squashing the Cubs’ latest offensive counter.</p><p>The Brewers then doubled down the next inning. This time, it was Brice Turang’s turn to hit a one-run homer off Cubs veteran right-hander Andrew Kittredge.</p><p>Just to get the NLDS to a Game 5, the Cubs had to beat the odds, after the hole they dug for themselves in the first two games of the series.</p><p>They lost the first two games at American Family Field, outscored by the Brewers 16-6 over the course of both contests. The Cubs’ starting pitching struggled and offense became overly reliant on the home run. Whereas, the Brewers hitters held on consistent pressure and capitalized on mistakes.</p><p>The climb ahead was steep, but it wasn’t unprecedented. The Cubs had won three straight elimination games once before in playoff history, and the last victory clinched the 2016 World Series title.</p><p>Roles, and momentum, reversed when the series moved to Wrigley Field, and the Cubs kept their hopes of a deep postseason run alive.<br></p>

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