Yu Darvish Struggles as Kris Bryant, Cubs Fall to Christian Yelich, Brewers

Powered by Christian Yelich and Justin Smoak home runs, the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Chicago Cubs 8-3 on Saturday at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks silenced the Brewers' bats in a 3-0 Cubs win Friday on Opening Day, but Yu Darvish and the Chicago bullpen came nowhere close to matching Hendricks' results in the second game of the series.

Both teams are now .500 after two contests in a season that places greater emphasis than ever on single games—teams will play only 60 games rather than the customary 162 because of the coronavirus pandemic delaying the start of the campaign. 

Notable Stats

Christian Yelich, OF, MIL: 1/5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R

Justin Smoak, 1B, MIL: 2/5, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R

Lorenzo Cain, OF, MIL: 3/4, 1 RBI, 2 R

Corbin Burnes, SP, MIL: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 1 ER, 6 K, ND

Kyle Schwarber, OF, CHC: 1/3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R

Javier Baez, SS, CHC: 2/4, 1 R

Yu Darvish, SP, CHC: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 0 BB, 3 ER, 5 K, L

Brewers Use HR Ball, MVP Candidate Yelich to Beat Cubs

Things couldn't have gone much worse for manager Craig Counsell's Brewers in the first game of the season, but the Milwaukee bats woke up in a big way Saturday.

The most notable clout of the day came from 2018 National League MVP Yelich, who clubbed a two-run home run in the sixth inning to extend the Brewers' lead to 6-3:

It was a much-needed jolt for the Brew Crew since the Cubs had pulled to within one on a two-run homer by Kyle Schwarber the previous inning:

The Brewers had benefited from another bomb in the fifth inning when Smoak, who is in his first season with Milwaukee after five years as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, smashed a solo shot on a pitch that was up and out of the zone:

Milwaukee held a 3-1 lead before that Smoak home run, but it was built primarily on placement and speed rather than power.

Eric Sogard tied the game at 1-1 in the second on an RBI single, and Ben Gamel then put the Brewers up 3-1 with a two-run triple in the fourth:

One of the big question marks surrounding the Brewers entering the season was whether they would be able to maintain their power-hitting ways with Yasmani Grandal, Mike Moustakas and Eric Thames all leaving in free agency and taking 88 home runs from last season with them.

Milwaukee showed Saturday that it can still hit the long ball, but it also proved that it can beat quality teams like the Cubs in other ways as well.

Cubs' Bullpen Falters in One-Sided Loss

The Cubs didn't have to dip into their bullpen Friday since Hendricks fired a complete-game three-hitter, but some red flags were raised Saturday.

First-year manager David Ross pulled Darvish after he allowed six hits and three earned runs in four innings, but things got even worse for Chicago when the relievers took the mound.

In three combined innings of relief, Duane Underwood Jr., Brad Wieck and James Norwood surrendered five hits, one walk and five earned runs. Rex Brothers and Dillon Maples fired one scoreless inning each thereafter.

In addition to the aforementioned scoring plays, the Brewers tacked on some insurance runs in the seventh inning when catcher Omar Narvaez had an RBI double and outfielder Lorenzo Cain had an RBI single.

The Cubs ranked a respectable eighth in MLB last season with a bullpen ERA of 3.98, but according to Fangraphs, they were only 16th in FIP at 4.54, which suggests they were lucky to have such a low ERA.

Chicago also lost a trio of key relievers from last season's team, as Steve Cishek, Brandon Kintzler and Pedro Strop are now all on new clubs. That leaves the Cubs with a relative lack of experience in the bullpen aside from closer Craig Kimbrel.

That was on full display Saturday, as several lesser-known relievers struggled, and it figures to be one of the biggest storylines surrounding the Cubbies for the remainder of the season.