Unsung heroes of Cubs' Game 1 loss may wind up saving their World Series hopes

By the time Aaron Civale and Ben Brown took the mound in the Chicago Cubs' 9-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday afternoon, more than a few fans had changed the channel or found other ways to distract themselves from a disastrous start to the National League Division Series.

We don't need to re-hash Matthew Boyd's poor outing of the offense's lackluster body of work. But we do need to talk more about the work Civale and Brown turned in - and why it could be the team's saving grace moving forward in the playoffs.

“Look, Aaron and Ben did a heck of a job,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “Super important. Our relievers are completely reset. We can work with Monday's game however we want to. Really, really important. Both guys, when you're going to your third pitcher in the second inning, that could be really problematic, even with the off-days. Aaron's outing, Ben's outing, especially Aaron's outing, really, really saved us.”

Aaron Civale, Ben Brown may have just saved the Cubs' playoffs dream

Civale came on in the second inning and immediately stopped the bleeding. The veteran went on to toss 4 1/3 scoreless innings - the longest scoreless relief outing in franchise history - before giving way to Brown, who followed with two scoreless frames of his own, saving the rest of the Chicago bullpen, which Counsell admitted was still feeling it coming off the Wild Card Series against San Diego.

The Cubs and Brewers don't play Game 2 until 8:08 pm CT on Monday night - giving everyone more than 48 hours of rest. That means everyone will be available on both pitching staffs and arms should be as close to 100 percent as possible this time of year.

Mop-up duty isn't a glamorous role - especially on the national stage in October. But Civale and Brown stepped up and did what was asked of them and, if the Cubs wind up advancing to the NLCS, their efforts will be a big reason why.

“Once you're in the playoffs, it's all hands on deck,” Civale said. “You get to that point, and then it's just whenever your name is called, whatever role that is, you’ve just got to go roll with it.”