Brewers trail from the first again, lose to Cubs 4-2

WP: Yu Darvish (3-1)
LP: Brett Anderson (0-2)
SV: Rowan Wick (3)

HR: Justin Smoak (2), Kyle Schwarber (3)

Box Score

A struggling Brewers offense faced surging Cubs starter Yu Darvish, and the game did not go well at all.

After a scoreless first for the Brewers, starter Brett Anderson got hit right away. Nico Hoerner hit Anderson’s first pitch for a double, and then groundouts by Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez moved Hoerner up and then scored him, giving the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the first. Then, in the second inning, Kyle Schwarber hit Anderson’s first pitch of that inning out to left center to increase that lead to 2-0.

Meanwhile, Yu Darvish dominated the Brewers lineup. Across Darvish’s seven innings, the Brewers managed a total of three baserunners. One came in the first inning as Christian Yelich was hit by a pitch. The second came in the fifth inning when Orlando Arcia drew a walk. The last of those baserunners was in the seventh, when Justin Smoak ended Darvish’s no-hit bid with a home run to give the Brewers their first run.

Unfortunately, at that point the Brewers were already down 4-0. The Cubs had tacked on two more runs against reliever Corbin Burnes, who allowed three walks, a double, and a single in the sixth, allowing the Cubs to tack on two runs. That was the only inning that the Cubs managed anything against Burnes, who finished the day with 3.2 innings pitched, two runs allowed, two hits, two walks, and five strikeouts. Meanwhile, starter Anderson allowed two runs, five hits, two walks, and five strikeouts.

After a scoreless eighth against Casey Sadler, the Brewers recorded two quick outs in the ninth with closer Rowan Wick on the mound. However, the Brewers managed to put together a rally. Avisail Garcia singled to keep the game going, and Justin Smoak drove him in with a double. Omar Narvaez came up to the plate as the tying run, but flew out to end the game.

Once again, the offense faced their share of struggles. They managed just four hits, two of those coming from Justin Smoak (who also drove in both of the Brewers runs). They also walked just twice in the game, and struck out eleven times.

Game two of the series will take place tomorrow, in a Friday night game against the Cubs. Brandon Woodruff will face Tyler Chatwood. First pitch is at 7:15 pm.