The Cubs spoiled Quinn Priester’s homecoming Wednesday, knocking out the Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher with a four-run first inning and keeping their season alive with a 4-3 win in Game 3 of the National League Division Series.

Priester, making his playoff debut, lasted two-thirds of an inning in front of a sold-out Wrigley Field crowd. The 2019 Cary-Grove alum labored through a first inning in which he threw 39 pitches and allowed four runs on three hits, two walks and a strikeout.

The Cubs, who dropped the first two games at Milwaukee’s American Family Field, trail the best-of-five series 2-1. Game 4 is set for 8:08 p.m. Thursday at Wrigley Field, but will move up two hours if the Dodgers sweep the Phillies.

Only two teams have come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-five division series.

Jameson Taillon started for the Cubs and didn’t factor in the decision, allowing two runs on five hits in four innings. He struck out three and walked one. The bullpen of Drew Pomeranz, Daniel Palencia, Andrew Kittredge, Caleb Thielbar and Brad Keller went the final five innings, allowing a run, to hold on.

After the Brewers went ahead with a run in the top of the first inning, Cubs leadoff hitter Michael Busch greeted Priester with a solo home run on a 3-2 pitch that just reached the first row of the right-field bleachers.

Priester then gave up a single to Nico Hoerner and a walk to Kyle Tucker before retiring cleanup hitter Seiya Suzuki on a fly ball to Sal Frelick, who made a sliding catch in right field. Priester then walked Ian Happ and struck out Carson Kelly on six pitches.

With Priester looking to escape the inning tied at 1, Pete Crow Armstrong delivered a bases-loaded, two-run single to right field with two outs to knock in Hoerner and Tucker.

That ended the day for Priester, who had not had an outing shorter than 3⅔ innings all season. The Cubs added a fourth run in the inning when relief pitcher Nick Mears unloaded a wild pitch to Dansby Swanson, scoring Happ from third.

Priester took responsibility for his rocky outing.

“The command wasn’t good and the stuff wasn’t coming out the way I wanted it to,” Priester told reporters after the game. “And ultimately it falls on me to make an adjustment. … Didn’t give us a chance. Everyone else played well, with the exception of myself. So I definitely feel like that’s entirely on me."

Wednesday was Priester’s fourth appearance against the Cubs this year (he also pitched against the Cubs in 2023 with the Pittsburgh Pirates). Priester pitched in relief May 2 against the Cubs, allowing seven runs and two homers in a 10-0 loss.

He fared much better in his next two outings.

Priester started against the Cubs in Milwaukee on July 29, going 5⅔ innings and allowing two runs in a 9-3 win. On Aug. 21, he started at Wrigley Field, throwing 4⅓ innings and allowing a run in a 4-1 victory.

On Tuesday, Priester talked about the special memories he had growing up and rooting for the Cubs.

He attended Game 5 of the 2016 World Series.

“My grandma Judy and my grandpa Paul would always take me and my sister Maddie to a game, one a year usually,” said Priester, 25, in a story for the Daily Herald. “I remember one year, it was the Phillies. We always tried to go to a Braves game because my grandpa was a big Braves fan. My grandfather and I would crack peanuts and try to sneak them onto each other’s hats ... (see) if I could get it to balance on his head without him noticing, and he would do the same to me. It was just a really fun back and forth.”

Priester, pitching for his third organization, ended the regular season with a 13-3 record, 3.32 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 157⅓ innings. His addition to the Brewers staff was key as Milwaukee won the NL Central Division title with an MLB-best 97-65 record, five games ahead of the 92-70 Cubs.

Before losing his last game of the regular season against the Cincinnati Reds, the Brewers had won 19 consecutive games in which Priester appeared, a franchise record.

Priester, the Gatorade Illinois Baseball Player of the Year in 2019, was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates that same year with the 18th overall pick of the MLB First-Year Player Draft. He was dealt to the Boston Red Sox at the 2024 trade deadline before joining the Brewers via trade in April of this year.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy offered words of encouragement when he took the ball from Priester in the first inning Wednesday.

“I know you’re disappointed, but we need you,” Murphy said of his message to Priester during an in-game interview with TBS.