Both the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers will have relievers starting Saturday’s Game 5 as openers.
The Cubs announced that left-hander Drew Pomeranz would start, while the Brewers are turning to right-hander Trevor Megill, their All-Star closer. Neither figures to go very deep into the game, as both teams plan to use several pitchers.
“With the exception of [Game 4 starter] Matt Boyd, everyone’s going to be available,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Friday. “And so it’s a cliché here, but we have 11 pitchers to figure out how to get 27 outs. That’s how we’re treating it.”
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Pomeranz went 2-2 with a 2.17 ERA in 57 regular-season appearances, with 53 of them coming in relief. He has struck out five without allowing any hits or walks in five scoreless innings this postseason.
He has pitched one inning in each of the past three games of this series. Pomeranz was the winning pitcher in Game 3 on Wednesday.
The Cubs had the option of turning to Game 2 loser Shota Imanaga on four days’ rest, but he posted a 6.51 ERA in September and has allowed six runs over 6⅔ innings in two appearances this postseason.
Megill went 6-3 with 30 saves and a 2.49 ERA in 50 relief appearances during the regular season. He spent a month on the injured list with a strained right flexor before returning to pitch in the Brewers’ regular-season finale.
He has pitched in two games this series. He retired the only two batters he faced in Game 2 and pitched one-third of an inning while allowing a hit and a walk in Game 4.
Milwaukee could use a similar approach to its Game 2 strategy, when seven pitchers contributed to a 7-3 victory. Murphy noted that Aaron Ashby would be available after throwing 32 pitches in the Brewers’ Game 4 loss Thursday.
Murphy listed Ashby, Megill, Abner Uribe, Jared Koenig and Chad Patrick and Jacob Misiorowski as guys who are “going to probably pitch.”
“A lot of those guys are rookies, a lot of those guys are not very experienced, but that’s how we’ve won all these games and come together,” Murphy said. “Now we’re playing in a way bigger environment, and it’s a bigger task. But I’m confident that we’ll have enough pitching.”
The Cubs are trying to become the 11th team to win a best-of-five series after losing the first two games. The last team to do it was the New York Yankees against Cleveland in the 2017 American League Division Series.
Saturday’s winning team will open the NL Championship Series on Monday. The Brewers would host the Dodgers for the start of the series, while the Cubs would travel to Los Angeles.
