Brewers drop season finale to Cubs 3-1

One tough inning and another quiet day at the plate. All too common sights in a Brewers season that ended on Sunday with a 3-1 loss to the playoff-bound Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs scored all of their runs in the first inning off of starter Jorge Lopez. The Brewers rookie, coming off a solid major league debut last week in San Diego, struggled from the start, loading the bases by allowing the first three batters to get on base without a hit. Chicago slugger Anthony Rizzo made him pay, sneaking a grounder through the right side for a single that plated two. The Cubs would add a run during the next bat when the Brewers turned a double play that scored the runner from third.

Milwaukee would get their only run of the day in the 3rd inning. After the first six batters of the game went down in order for the Brewers, Jean Segura led off the third with a single and was later bunted over to second by Lopez. Shane Peterson hit a ground rule double off of Cubs starter Dan Haren to put the Crew o the board, trailing 3-1.

From there, it would be relatively quiet. The Brewers next best scoring chance came in the 4th, when Khris Davis doubled to lead off the inning, but was later thrown out on a fielders choice hit back to the pitcher by Hernan Perez.

Even with the rough first inning, Lopez (1-1, 5.40) was still pretty effective for the Brewers, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits, striking out 3 and walking 3 over 5 innings of play. Haren (11-9, 3.60) went 6 innings for the Cubs, giving up just 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 3 and walking 1.

The Cubs finish the regular season at 97-65. They will take on the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Wild Card Game on Wednesday night. The Brewers finish their season with a 68-94 record, posting identical 34-47 records at Miller Park and on the road this season. They are slated to open the 2016 season on Monday, April 4th against the San Francisco Giants at Miller Park at 1:10 p.m.