CHICAGO — The Brewers walked into Wrigley on Monday and ended a 15-game home winning streak before the fifth inning was over.
Shota Imanaga had his worst start of the season by a wide margin, Jake Bauers homered and drove in four runs, and the Milwaukee Brewers drubbed the Cubs 9-3 at Wrigley Field — snapping Chicago's home winning streak, the longest at the Friendly Confines since an 18-game run in September 1935. It was the first meeting between these teams since the Brewers knocked the Cubs out of the postseason in five games last October, and Milwaukee made it count. Chicago falls to 29-19. The Brewers, now 27-18, are a half-game back in the NL Central.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIL | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 13 | 0 |
| CHC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
The Fourth Inning Ended It
Christian Yelich went deep on Imanaga's first pitch of the second inning — a solo shot to right, 409 feet, his second homer in back-to-back days — and the Cubs were already in an uncomfortable spot. They held it together for two more innings. Then came the fourth.
Milwaukee sent eight men to the plate, strung together five hits and a walk, and forced Imanaga to throw 35 pitches in a single frame. Bauers singled to center to score William Contreras. Sal Frelick followed with a two-out, two-run double to left, scoring Bauers and Vaughn. Jackson Chourio capped it with a single to center. Four runs, a 5-0 Brewers lead, and a pitcher clearly running on fumes.
The fifth finished the job. Yelich walked, Andrew Vaughn doubled him to third, and Bauers hit a 419-foot three-run homer to right that ended Imanaga's night. Bauers drove in four runs on the evening — his ninth straight game with a hit, batting .438 (14-for-32) during the streak.
Imanaga's Milwaukee Problem Isn't Going Away
This didn't come out of nowhere. Imanaga entered 1-3 with a 5.73 ERA in four career starts against the Brewers — his one consistent trouble spot over three seasons as a Cub. He's now 1-4. He allowed more earned runs tonight (eight) than he had in his previous five starts combined, and surrendered both of Milwaukee's home runs — Yelich in the second and Bauers in the fifth.
The final line: 4⅓ IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, 79 pitches. His ERA jumps from 2.32 to 3.38. The three walks were the tell — he had issued just 13 all season over 54⅓ innings coming in. He was off from the first pitch and the Brewers never let him settle.
The Cubs Had a Fifth Inning
Chicago wasn't completely dead in the fifth. Carson Kelly led off with a single. Dansby Swanson followed with a two-run homer to left — 430 feet, his seventh of the season — and suddenly it was 8-2. Nico Hoerner drew a walk, and Michael Busch doubled to center to score him. Three runs, 8-3, and Wrigley found some life for about four minutes.
Shane Drohan came in and struck out Ian Happ to end it.
Drohan then threw 4⅓ shutout innings to close the game — 4 H, 0 ER, 5 K, 0 BB on 42 pitches. The Cubs put another runner on in the sixth when Busch doubled off Drohan, but Bregman and Happ couldn't bring him in. After that Chicago went quietly. The offense finished 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and struck out ten times.
Pitching Notes
Ethan Roberts and Ty Blach worked the innings after Imanaga. Roberts gave up a run in 1⅔ — Yelich doubled to left in the sixth to score Brice Turang and push the lead to 9-3. Blach was clean after that, working three innings with two strikeouts and no walks.
Sproat looked lost in the first inning, walking the first two batters he faced, then settled into a rhythm and didn't allow his first hit until Kelly's single to lead off the fifth. He finished 4⅔ innings, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 HR on 78 pitches. It was his first career appearance against the Cubs.
Pitcher Stats
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imanaga (L, 4-4) | 4⅓ | 9 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Roberts | 1⅔ | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Blach | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Sproat | 4⅔ | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Drohan (W, 2-1) | 4⅓ | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
Lineup Notes
Seiya Suzuki went 2-for-4, one of the few Cubs who showed up at the plate. Kelly also had two hits, including the single that set up Swanson's homer. Between them they accounted for four of Chicago's seven. The rest of the lineup — Bregman, Happ, Hoerner, and Crow-Armstrong — went a combined 0-for-11.
Michael Conforto started at DH and went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Matt Shaw came in to hit for him in the eighth and grounded into a double play. Swanson's homer was his seventh of the season — a career-high pace at this point in a year. He's hitting .194.
The Cubs have now dropped seven of their last nine and lost four consecutive series. After a 15-game home winning streak that felt like it might never stop, Monday was a hard reset.
What's Next
The Cubs and Brewers are back at Wrigley on Tuesday night for what now qualifies as a meaningful game in May. Ben Brown (1-1, 1.60 ERA) takes the mound against Jacob Misiorowski (3-2, 2.12 ERA) — two of the better young starters in the NL Central. Brown has been one of Chicago's more reliable arms in a rotation tested by injuries all spring. First pitch is at 7:40 p.m. CT on Marquee Sports Network.