With Willson Contreras ‘ready’ to play, Cubs beat Brewers to take series

One day after catching 15 innings in nasty weather Saturday, Cubs catcher Willson Contreras didn’t even think about taking the game off Sunday.

‘‘Because I’m ready to go,’’ he said.

That has been the general vibe for the Cubs, who beat the Brewers 4-1 to complete an 8-2 homestand. Jon Lester allowed an unearned run and threw 116 pitches in 6 2/3 innings, Javy Baez had the go-ahead double in the fifth and Kris Bryant added a two-run home run in the seventh. Brandon Kintzler worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings before Steve Cishek pitched the ninth for his second save.

The Cubs, who are off Monday, ended their homestand two games in front of the Brewers after taking two of three in the series.

‘‘Really an interesting, well-played game,’’ manager Joe Maddon said.

Things have been interesting in a good way for Contreras.

After a trying 2018, Contreras is back to being the player the Cubs expect. He is hitting .304, and his walk-off homer in the 15th Saturday was his 10th of the season, matching his total from last season.

Considering his recent form and the fact Lester was pitching, it probably wasn’t that surprising Contreras was
behind the plate. There were also a couple of other reasons he wasn’t going to sit.

‘‘The love for the game and how much I want to win this game today,’’ Contreras said beforehand. ‘‘My mind is ready to go. I’m a little bit sore, but that doesn’t take away the love that I feel for this game.’’

The weekend series was the Brewers’ first visit to Wrigley since the National League Central tiebreaker last season, the first of two losses — the other came against the Rockies in the wild-card game — that sent the Cubs from home-field advantage in the NL playoffs to watching the rest of the postseason.

Whatever happened in the last three days wasn’t going to erase that entirely. But the result Sunday didn’t hurt, even though Lester wasn’t exactly popping champagne corks after the victory.

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‘‘Anytime you win a series against somebody in your division, it’s always good,’’ Lester said. ‘‘You can’t read too much into it.’’

After the Cubs scored an unearned run in the first, their defense returned the favor in the fourth. Christian Yelich led off and sent a fly ball to left field that Kyle Schwarber couldn’t handle, resulting in a three-base error when his diving try was unsuccessful. Jesus Aguilar followed with a tying single.

The Brewers eventually loaded the bases, but Lester got Orlando Arcia to ground into a force to end a 39-pitch inning.

‘‘He’s been so good at pitching through adversity, making pitches when he needs to,’’ Maddon said of Lester. ‘‘He’s really slowed the game down as well as you possibly can.’’

In the fifth, Baez’s double to the gap in right-center drove in Bryant to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead.

Even after Lester allowed a double and a single to begin the sixth, the Cubs retained the lead. With one out, Hernan Perez hit a soft grounder to Baez at short. He threw home to get Aguilar at the plate, and Lester got out of the jam.

Lester ran out of steam with two outs in the seventh. He walked Lorenzo Cain and allowed a single to Yelich before Kintzler struck out Aguilar looking to end the threat.

Bryant then hit his two-run homer to left-center in the bottom of the inning.

‘‘[Bryant]  looks really sharp,’’ Maddon said. ‘‘His confidence is way up.’’

That also could be said of Contreras and the team as a whole.

‘‘Great homestand, going back to the Cardinals,’’ Bryant said. ‘‘Weather, cold, not the greatest conditions to play in. Long games. Super proud of the way we’ve handled everything that we’ve been dealt.’’