Cubs shut down RHP Brown for season
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CHICAGO (AP) -- The Chicago Cubs have shut down right-hander Ben Brown for the rest of the season so he can fully heal from a stress reaction in his neck that has sidelined him since mid-June.
The 26-year-old Brown is 4-2 with a 1.85 ERA in 20 games this season, including his final eight as a starter after Chicago’s rotation was depleted by injuries. After shifting to a starting role, Brown was 3-1 with a 1.70 ERA.
The stress reaction flared after Brown tossed six innings and allowed two runs in a 16-2 win over Toronto on June 19 and he was placed on the IL. The same painful condition caused Brown to miss significant time in 2024.
Brown attempted to come back this season, but experienced discomfort during a throwing session on Aug. 25. That scuttled plans to send him on a minor-league rehab assignment and led to additional medical consultation and imaging.
“This is a bone injury,” manager Craig Counsell said before Thursday’s game against Milwaukee at Wrigley Field. “There’s a healing, but just not enough to allow the discomfort to go away. So we just need to spend more time healing.
“In the case of bones, you just need to let them rest and some bones can heal slower.”
Counsell was optimistic Brown would be “a healthy player” in time for spring training.
Over three major league seasons with the Cubs, Brown is 10-13 with a 4.15 ERA and two saves in 60 games, including 31 starts.
Brewers 9,
Cubs 5
CHICAGO (AP) -- Jackson Chourio homered as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night, overcoming a shaky performance by Jacob Misiorowski.
William Contreras hit a tiebreaking RBI single and Chourio had four of the Brewers’ 14 hits and scored twice.
Misiorowski allowed five runs and five hits in four innings. The front-runner for the NL Cy Young Award surrendered three earned runs or fewer in his first 25 starts this year.
Alex Bregman homered and drove in four runs for the Cubs, who have lost three of four. Bregman is batting .331 (48 for 145) with 14 homers and 37 RBIs in his last 35 games.
Milwaukee went ahead to stay with three runs in the fourth against David Peterson (7-8). Cooper Pratt scampered home on Brice Turang’s sacrifice bunt, and Andrew Vaughn singled home Chourio. Turang scored on Contreras’ liner to center for a 6-5 lead at Wrigley Field.
Joey Ortiz’s two-run single made it 9-5 in the ninth.
JoJo Romero (2-3) pitched a scoreless inning for his first win since he was acquired in a deadline trade with St. Louis.
The 24-year-old Misiorowski, who has a long extension with his pitching motion, struggled in hot and humid conditions and was slipping on the mound.
"You start second-guessing everything, start trying to make pitches too big, and start trying make things too spot-on," he said, "so (you) start leaking places, and you got to calm yourself down and figure out a way to get through it."