CHICAGO — Runs were always going to be at a premium with the wind blowing in at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night.

Mix in Colin Rea, the surprisingly reliable starter for the Cubs this season, and Jacob Misiorowski, the hard-throwing pitching phenom, and the penultimate meeting between the Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers had all the makings of a low-scoring affair.

So, with no outs and runners at first and second in a one-run ballgame in the third inning, asking rookie Matt Shaw to try and lay down a sacrifice bunt wasn’t the worst idea in the world.

Only, he couldn’t drop one down, but what he did instead was even better – and a tide-turning moment in a pivotal contest between the division rivals.

The rookie coaxed an impressive, 11-pitch walk that loaded the bases and set the stage for Michael Busch’s three-run double an at-bat later in the Cubs’ 4-3 win over the Brewers on Wednesday night.

Owen Caissie started the frame with a seven-pitch walk, and Dansby Swanson drew a free pass on four pitches. Cubs manager Craig Counsell asked his rookie No. 9 hitter to lay down a sacrifice, ideally setting up Busch to hit with a pair of runners in scoring position.

Shaw sent his first bunt attempt about 25 rows back into the stands behind home plate, then took a pair of pitches for a 2-1 count. He fouled another bunt attempt far behind him into the stands, meaning he’d have to swing and try to make something happen – a tall task after trying to square up a bunt. He fouled off a curveball and then took ball three.

That got the 36,327 crowd at the Friendly Confines to get on their feet, sensing the magnitude of that plate appearance. Instead of becoming too aggressive, the rookie dug in and battled.

And battled and battled and battled, fouling off four straight pitches, – each swat seemingly adding fuel to the raucous crowd. The moment didn’t become too much for Shaw, and instead it seemingly shifted the pressure onto the Brewers’ rookie pitcher. That environment got to Misiorowski, and, on the 11th pitch, he threw an 87-mph curveball that nearly hit Shaw for ball four.

That sent the Wrigley Crowd into a frenzy and kept the pressure on Misiorowski.

The Brewers’ All-Star flamethrower started the next at-bat against Busch with three straight balls, keeping the decibel levels high at Wrigley Field. Misiorowski threw a 98.5-mph fastball right down the middle on the fourth pitch for a strike where Busch was clearly taking all the way.

Then, on the next pitch, Busch crushed a 98.1-mph fastball to the left-center gap for a bases-clearing double and the type of big hit that has seemingly eluded the Cubs for a while now.

“That’s just winning pitches,” Counsell said. “He just kept winning pitches and spoiling good pitches and gave himself another chance to fight consistently. That was a heck of an at-bat. We put Misiorowski on the ropes where he kinda lost command a little bit and then he fell behind Michael and Michael got a good pitch to hit.”

Shaw’s game-changing plate appearance made a third-inning rally feel like a ninth-inning moment, and that worked for the Cubs in a big way.

After the win, Shaw broke down his mindset during the game-changing plate apperance.

“You just gotta go from a fresh slate every single pitch,” he said. “You’ve seen everything at that point in the at-bat when you get eight, nine, 10 pitches.

“I had seen all his pitches and at that point, you just kind of got to refresh and really just continue to grind out the at-bat. Sometimes you start to guess what he might do and that kind of gets you in swing mode. So just being up there and really just battling.”