CHICAGO -- The Brewers are currently chasing the Cubs, but the reality of the situation is reversed when zooming out. The North Siders have been trying to overtake their rivals to the north for three years running and understand that the finish line matters more than how the division race looks in mid-May.
On Monday night, the Cubs got their first look at this year’s iteration of the Brewers -- the first time the teams have clashed since the National League Division Series last October. Chicago was handed a 9-3 loss, which put a period on the 15-game winning streak at Wrigley Field that dated back to April 12.
“The Brewers are the team that’s won the division the last three years,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s what we want to do. Last year, they beat us and they had a fabulous season. So, we’ve got to improve to get there. They’re a good team again – no question about it. That’s where it’s at.”
The Cubs’ 15-game streak at home was the second-longest such run since the club took up residence at Wrigley Field, trailing only an 18-game stretch in September of 1935.
One of the reasons for the North Siders’ run to the top of the NL Central standings right now has been a resurgence from lefty Shota Imanaga. In Monday’s loss, however, the Brewers dealt Imanaga his roughest outing of the year, piling up eight runs on nine hits and chasing the lefty after just 4 1/3 innings.
Christian Yelich broke through first against Imanaga, sending a first-pitch sweeper off the video board beyond the right-field bleachers for a leadoff shot in the second. Imanaga, who allowed three runs total in his previous three starts, then surrendered four runs in a nine-batter fourth inning for Milwaukee.
In the fifth inning, Jake Bauers ended Imanaga’s night with a three-run homer that also caromed off the video board in right. Yelich and Bauers became the first set of opposing teammates to hit home runs off the ballpark’s video boards (installed in 2015) in the same game, according to the Cubs.
After being no-hit by Brewers righty Brandon Sproat for the first four innings, the Cubs did put up a three-spot in the fifth. That outburst included a two-run homer by shortstop Dansby Swanson, who had not gone deep since April 24, snapping a drought of 72 plate appearances without a homer.