Brewers bats come alive to down the Cubs

A day after collecting just three hits in a shutout loss, the Milwaukee Brewers’ bats came alive against Yu Darvish and the Chicago pitching staff in an 8-3 win over the Cubs on Saturday at Wrigley Field.

After falling behind 1-0, Milwaukee would score the next four runs. An Eric Sogard single in the second scored Lorenzo Cain. Then, in the fourth, left fielder Ben Gamel drove in a pair of runs with his bases clearing triple. First baseman Justin Smoak would add another run with a solo home run off the right field foul pole — the first homer of the year for the Brewers.

Chicago managed to close the gap with a two-run shot from Kyle Schwarber in the bottom of the fifth inning, but Milwaukee bounced right back in the sixth thanks to Christian Yelich. Following a two-out walk by Sogard, the 2018 NL MVP drilled a no-doubt home run to center field. It was his first hit of the season and it gave Milwaukee a 6-3 lead.

The Crew blew the game open in the seventh as Omar Narvaez doubled in a run and Lorenzo Cain singled in another. Cain finished the day going 3-for-4.

Corbin Burnes got the start for Milwaukee and went 3 1/3 innings, giving up the one run on two hits. He walked three but also struck out six. Brent Suter gave up the home run to Schwarber but was otherwise solid in his 2 2/3 innings of work. Devin Williams got into some trouble in the seventh inning as he loaded the bases before getting a strikeout to end it.

Milwaukee improved to 1-1 on the year. The two teams will play the rubber match of their opening series on Sunday afternoon.