CHICAGO _ Willson Contreras' long home run into the back of the left-field bleachers off Burch Smith in the 15th inning ended the longest Cubs-Brewers game in the history of Wrigley Field, giving the Cubs a 2-1 win Saturday afternoon and putting them a game ahead in the Central Division.
The game was played in a cold, steady drizzle from beginning to end. Most of the crowd of 39,598 had left by the time the game ended, but the ones who stuck around were glad they did.
Cole Hamels pitched seven strong innings, allowing three hits and one run, and the Cubs bullpen was solid the rest of the way, with seven relievers combining for eight shutout innings, giving up only one single. The Brewers hit into six double plays.
Tyler Chatwood (2-0) earned the win with four innings of hitless relief. He struck out seven and walked three.
With the rain and cold temperatures persistent from the outset, both teams knew it was likely to be a low-scoring affair.
The Cubs wasted a leadoff triple by Jason Heyward in the first inning, one of several scoring opportunities they couldn't convert.
The game remained scoreless through four innings before Hernan Perez homered to left off Hamels to give the Brewers a brief lead. The Cubs answered against Zach Davies in the bottom of the inning with a two-out rally ignited by David Bote's infield hit. After Albert Almora Jr. doubled to right field, third base coach Will Venable, subbing for Brian Butterfield, sent Bote home with the light-hitting Hamels waiting in the on-deck circle.
Bote executed a perfect slide around catcher Yasmani Grandal, tagging a corner of the plate with his fingertips and barely eluding the tag after a good relay throw from Perez.
Javier Baez failed to convert two potential scoring opportunities in the sixth and eighth innings, grounding into a double play with two men on to end the sixth and striking out with men on first and second to finish the eighth.
The Brewers lifted dominant reliever Josh Hader after only one inning and brought in Matt Albers to start the 11th. Albers walked Anthony Rizzo leading off before Baez lofted a high pop-up to right field that Eric Thames let drop in front of him after getting off to a slow start.
Contreras grounded into a double play, sending Rizzo to third and leading to an intentional walk to Kyle Schwarber, who took second on defensive indifference. Bote then walked to load the bases before Almora grounded to second, extending the game.
Baez doubled off the top of the center-field wall off Smith to start the 13th inning on a ball hit so hard that both center fielder Lorenzo Cain and Smith watched it like it was gone. After Baez tagged up and advanced to third on a fly to center by Contreras, Brewers manager Craig Counsell ordered intentional walks to Schwarber and Bote loaded the bases for Chatwood.
Burch promptly struck out reliever Chatwood, giving Addison Russell a shot to drive in the winning run in his third game back from his 40-game suspension for domestic violence. But Russell struck out, sending it to the 14th.
