Cubs first-inning ambush in Game 3 of NLDS made MLB history

The story of the NLDS matchup between the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers so far has been early offense.

Eighteen first-inning runs have been scored through three games, with Milwaukee holding a slight edge at 10–8.

On Wednesday at Wrigley Field, however, it was advantage Cubs.

Michael Busch led off the inning with a solo home run — his second of that variety in the series — and Brewers starter Quinn Priester was laboring. Just as Priester was about to escape the inning, Pete Crow-Armstrong broke things open with a two-run single into right field.

The first three balls in play off Cubs bats were all hit over 100 mph. PCA then stole second base, forcing a wild pitch from reliever Nick Mears and before you knew it, Chicago had pushed four runs across the plate and batted around.

By the time the dust settled, the Brewers had used two pitchers. They threw a combined 53 pitches in the first inning — and both were done for the day by the bottom of the second.

According to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, that 53-pitch inning set a new MLB record. It’s the most pitches thrown by any team in the first inning of a postseason game since pitch-by-pitch data began being tracked in 1988.

We’d seen the Cubs’ starting pitchers let them down earlier in the series. We’d heard about how Chicago had gone 13 straight playoff games without scoring four or more runs.

We even saw hitters like Ian Happ and Pete Crow-Armstrong take accountability in the locker room — shouldering the blame for the team’s lack of offense, even when they didn’t have to.

And this group answered the bell. They came out with a huge, gritty first inning in front of a restless Wrigley Field crowd.

That’s the kind of inning that can set the tone for a game — and a series by proxy.

For at least one inning, the Cubs looked like a team that could make a run. Every hitter put together a professional at-bat with clear purpose and confidence at the plate.

If Chicago completes the comeback and move on to the NLCS, remember that first-inning at-bat by PCA, and the way Chicago’s hitters made Milwaukee work for every out. It felt like the turning of the tide, and everyone in Wrigley could sense it — the energy shifting, the momentum coming back home.