CHICAGO -- The Milwaukee Brewers will have to wait at least one more day before punching their ticket to the National League Championship Series.
The Chicago Cubs sliced the Brewers' series lead in half to 2-1 in their best-of-five series with Wednesday's 4-3 victory at Wrigley Field.
Things started well for the Brewers when they scored a run in the first inning, but the Cubs answered with four in the bottom half of the first.
Milwaukee kept chipping away at the Cubs' lead but ran out of time. Jake Bauers, who homered in the seventh inning, struck out with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth.
MVP
Pete Crow-Armstrong had a hand in three of the Cubs' four runs. He gave the Cubs a 3-1 lead with a sharp single to right field to score both Nico Hoerner and Kyle Tucker. He played a hand in the Cubs' fourth run as well when he attempted to steal second base. The pitch got away from Brewers catcher William Contreras, which allowed Ian Happ to race home from third on the play.
Least valuable player
There was no feel-good story for Brewers starting pitcher Quinn Priester.
The Chicago-area native only lasted 2/3 of an inning and forced the Brewers to use a lot of their bullpen.
Priester allowed four earned runs on three hits and two walks. He did strike out one.
The damage could have been worse because one of the outs he did record came on a sliding catch in right field by Sal Frelick with runners on first and second.
Priester last experienced postseason baseball at Wrigley Field in 2016, when he attended Game 5 of the World Series.
Turning point
The Brewers scored a gift run in the first inning when the Cubs allowed a popup on the infield to drop for a single. Frelick made them pay with a sacrifice fly and a 1-0 lead.
But the Cubs offense went to work in the bottom of the first, with the big hit a two-run single by Crow-Armstrong to right field.
The Cubs' four runs proved just enough to force a Game 4.
What history says
The Brewers were trying to win the franchise's fourth postseason series all-time and their first since the 2018 NLDS against Colorado.
The last time the Brewers played a potential series-clinching game came last season in the wild card round against the Mets. Pete Alonso's three-run homer in the ninth inning proved the difference, ending Milwaukee's season.
The Brewers are trying to reach the championship series for the third time in franchise history. The first came in 1982, when the Brewers advanced to their lone World Series. The other came in 2018, when they fell to the Dodgers in seven games.
Up next
The Brewers will get another chance to punch their ticket to the NLCS in Thursday's Game 4. The start time will be announced later Wednesday and is dependent on the outcome of the two remaining division series games being played Wednesday.