The four other times the Brewers swept the Cubs at Wrigley Field
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The Milwaukee Brewers did something this week that they've only done three times in the past 24 years: Sweep a series of three or more games at Wrigley Field.
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With their win May 20, the Brewers executed a three-game sweep, matching similar occasions in 2021, 2017, 2002 and 2001. It wasn't the first time the Brewers and Cubs were sitting 1 and 2 in the National League Central division standings, and this time the Brewers traded places into first thanks to their three victories.
Here's a look at the other instances:
Aug. 10-12, 2021: Brewers sweep Cubs, 4-0
The Brewers won a doubleheader on Aug. 10, 4-2 and 6-3, then rampaged to a 10-0 win and 17-4 win victory in the other two games.
In the final tendrils of COVID-19 restrictions, the doubleheader games were only played to seven innings each, with rain postponing an Aug. 9 game to the next day. The Brewers hit three homers in the first game, and Freddy Peralta slightly out-dueled Justin Steele, and five straight Brewers reached in the fifth inning of the nightcap with two outs for a six-run rally.
Corbin Burnes racked up 15 strikeouts in the 10-0 win over eight electric innings, striking out 10 straight batters at one point. Before he threw a pitch, the Brewers gave him a 7-0 lead in the first inning.
Manny Piña and Luis Urias both hit two home runs in the blowout win to finish the series sweep.
Sept. 8-10, 2017: Brewers sweep Cubs, 3-0
Jimmy Nelson was excellent in a 2-0 win, and the Brewers followed with 15-2 and 3-1 wins as they tried to track down a playoff spot in the season's home stretch. But this series would probably be remembered for what happened to Nelson in that first game.
Nelson badly injured his shoulder diving back to first base after singling off the wall, suffering a torn labrum that would require surgery and derail his career. He finished the career year with a 3.49 ERA and 199 strikeouts in 175 innings. He actually pitched one more inning before leaving the game, but an MRI showed the bad news.
Undaunted in the short term, the Brewers posted an eight-run second inning in Game 2; Hernán Pérez homered and finished with five RBIs, and Chase Anderson allowed only one hit in five innings. In the finale, Zach Davies worked seven innings, Travis Shaw hit a two-run homer and Corey Knebel got the save.
That put the Brewers within two games of first place and three games shy of a wild-card spot. Not only that, but the Brewers won six of their next eight games. But Milwaukee couldn't catch the Cubs or quite break through for a wild-card spot, even with a thrilling walk-off homer against the Cubs by Shaw at Miller Park in the home stretch.
May 9-12, 2002: Brewers sweep Cubs, 3-0
The Brewers busted out the bats, winning 9-4, 6-4 and 13-4 in a battle between two teams at the bottom of the early-season standings.
José Hernández hit two homers in the first game to help make a winner of Ben Sheets, Jeffrey Hammonds broke a tie with two outs in the seventh thanks to a two-run homer in Game 2 and Richie Sexson homered in all three games, including a grand slam in the third game that marked the second Brewers grand slam of the game (Raúl Casanova had the first).
It was merely an oasis in the middle of a stretch where the Brewers lost 17 of 22 games (meaning the Cubs accounted for three of the five wins). The Brewers finished 10-7 against Chicago that year, one of only two teams against which the 56-win Brewers squad had a winning record. The Cubs accounted for 18% of Milwaukee's wins during the franchise-worst season.
June 22-24, 2001: Brewers sweep Cubs, 3-0
Ah, the sweep suits.
Is it the most dubious three-game sweep in Brewers history? The Brewers won at Wrigley over the first-place Cubs, 2-1, 4-0 and 6-3, but the memory that lingers was the loud and brazen attire worn by players afterward, seen as an affront to the baseball gods that caused the season to immediately crater.
Pictures are hard to come by, but former Brewers reporter Tom Haudricourt had the details:
"Jamey Wright was wearing a bright red, pin-stripe suit, black shirt and rose-colored glasses. David Weathers sported a shiny silver zoot suit right out of the Roaring '20s. Chad Fox stepped out wearing a colorful plaid outfit that could have been made from the curtains of a seedy motel.
"Allen Levrault wore an electric aqua-color outfit that came without batteries included. Curtis Leskanic opted for a canary yellow suit with matching shirt. And, last but not least, Jeromy Burnitz donned a leopard-print model that would have stood out even in the San Diego Zoo."
Milwaukee hopped on a plane with the outlandish outfits and lost all four games in Pittsburgh, falling in 10 of its next 12 overall and finishing the year 68-94.
In the games themselves, James Mouton had a clutch RBI single in the ninth to give the Brewers a Game 1 win, and first-inning homers by Sexson in Game 2 and Jeromy Burnitz in Game 3 launched Milwaukee onward. Jamey Wright worked eight innings and allowed just five hits and no runs in Game 2.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A rundown of sweeps at Wrigley Field for the Brewers