Cubs walk the walk, top Brewers in 10

Fox draws bases-loaded free pass to win NL Central tilt

Carrie Muskat / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- The Cubs had just enough things go their way Friday.

Rookie Jake Fox drew a walk-off walk with two outs in the 10th inning to give Chicago a 2-1 victory over Milwaukee to pull within 1 1/2 games of the Brewers, who fell a half-game behind the Cardinals, in the National League Central.

"This is a game we have to come through in," Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano said. "We have to beat these guys. St. Louis is coming, and we have to play good against them. I wish we could go with the same mentality that we had today against every other team. If we play like this against any other team, we'll be tough to beat."

With the game tied at 1 and one out in the 10th, Ryan Theriot singled to right past a leaping Craig Counsell and moved up on a wild pitch by Mark DiFelice (4-1). Theriot advanced on Derrek Lee's flyout to deep right field, and Milton Bradley was intentionally walked. DiFelice fell behind pinch-hitter Geovany Soto, and then intentionally walked him to load the bases for Fox, who worked the count full and then fouled off four straight pitches before drawing the game-winning walk.

Whether it was a ball or a strike depends on your point of view. The last call was so close that while the Cubs celebrated, DiFelice asked umpire Bill Welke where his pitch missed. Welke saw it as high.

"I saw the replay, and it looked like a strike to me," DiFelice said. "I think he missed it, and that's the ballgame."

"The last pitch looked pretty good to me," Brewers manager Ken Macha said.

"It was a slider that never really came back in," Fox said. "He made some good pitches in that at-bat. I have to tip my cap to him because he made some nasty pitches, but it was one of those scenarios where I was able to fight him off, fight him off, until either A, he gave me a good pitch to hit, or B, he made a mistake -- and he missed one there."

The defensive play of the game came in the Milwaukee seventh.