MILWAUKEE – Cubs left fielder Ian Happ knew as soon as he caught the ball, the Brewers’  Owen Miller, representing the tying run, would be racing home. 

“You have to catch it first,” he said, “but you have to get some momentum behind it to make the throw.” 

He stutter-stepped as the ball fell and then moved through it to fire an accurate throw home, long-hopping it into catcher Miguel Amaya’s glove. The rookie catcher dropped a knee and lunged across the baseline, tagging Miller with both hands for the final out of the Cubs’ 7-6 victory in the 11th inning. 

“We needed a win,” Happ said. 

The win wasn’t pretty. But it was gutsy – and maybe just the thing the Cubs need to right their trajectory before the All-Star break. 

“They don’t put a banner up based on underlying numbers,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said before the game of the 39-45 Cubs, who have by far the best run differential (+23) in the National League Central but are seven games back of the division-leading Reds. “We have to translate that into wins and losses, and we haven’t done that well enough.”

Hoyer has less than a month to decide the team’s direction at the trade deadline. 

“Where we’ve struggled is … messy games,” Hoyer said. “We haven’t won those types of games. And I think that, ultimately, is something [where] we have to find a way.” 

The Cubs found a way in a messy win Tuesday, improving their record to 11-21 in games decided by two runs or fewer. 

“Our leaders just stayed the course,” said veteran starter Kyle Hendricks, who held the Brewers to two runs through six innings. “We really weren’t getting too high or too low out there. It was like everything was going against us: [them] hitting all the holes, bad contact finding holes, we’re lining out to guys. And the whole time, everybody stayed with it.” 

Not to mention, the Cubs were in a skid, losing seven of their previous eight games. And after the Cubs had blown a six-run lead the day before to open the series, for a while, deja vu tinged Tuesday’s game. The team’s frustrations with calls throughout the game boiled over in the 11th inning when both first base coach Mike Napoli and manager David Ross were ejected. 

“There was a lot of bull—- that went on today that was really frustrating,” Ross said, also pointing to the Brewers closing the roof mid-inning late in the game. 

After the Cubs squandered an early four-run lead, two defensive plays in extra innings, backing an impressive debut from rookie reliever Daniel Palencia, secured the improbable win.

With one out in the 10th inning, and the automatic extra-innings runner on second base, Miller hit a line drive into shallow left field. It bounced toward Happ as pinch runner Andruw Monasterio approached third, turning to sprint home. 

“You’re coming in hot, so you’re trying to get your feet under you, make sure you at least catch the ball first before you get rid of it,” Happ said. 

He put everything he had into the “full janitor throw,” as he put it. From the ground, he didn’t even get to see the full play as it unfolded.

Happ’s throw beat Monasterio, taking one easy-to-handle hop. Then, Amaya spotted Miller jumping up and down in between first and second. Amaya fired to second base. Miller turned on the jets and tried to evade second baseman Nico Hoerner’s tag. But in doing, so he slid past the bag, and his hand came off it. Hoerner dove after him, completing the inning-ending double play. 

The next inning, Hoerner hit an infield single up the middle to drive in the go-ahead run. And back on defense, Happ made another game-changing throw home. 

“There’s so much character in that room,” Ross said of the team’s to the end. “I wish I wish people at home can feel that.”