William Contreras snapped a tie with a two-run single in the eighth inning on Saturday, helping the visiting Milwaukee Brewers avenge an Opening Day loss with a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
Ian Happ’s solo homer with two outs in the sixth inning put Chicago ahead before Milwaukee broke a 16-inning scoreless streak with three runs in the eighth.
Peter Strzelecki (1-0) pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff, who allowed one run on three hits with one walk and eight strikeouts over six frames. Devin Williams stranded a runner at third in the ninth inning for his first save.
Milwaukee rallied in the eighth inning against Javier Assad (0-1), who gave up Brian Anderson’s leadoff single before issuing a walk to Garrett Mitchell. Pinch-hitter Jesse Winker followed with a single to center that scored Anderson from second.
After pinch-runner Brice Turang stole second base and Mike Brosseau grounded out, Assad was replaced by Michael Fulmer, who walked Willy Adames and struck out Christian Yelich to load the bases. Contreras then gave Milwaukee the lead with a two-run single to right field.
Milwaukee had six hits after being held to four singles in Thursday’s season-opening 4-0 loss. The Brewers’ 16 scoreless innings to start the season is a franchise record.
Cubs starter Justin Steele gave up three hits with one walk and eight strikeouts over six scoreless innings.
Happ broke a scoreless tie with two outs in the sixth when he deposited Woodruff’s 3-2 fastball into the right-center bleachers. Happ has hit the Cubs’ first homer of the season in three of the last six seasons.
Chicago shortstop Dansby Swanson had three hits and is 6-for-8 to begin the season. Swanson and Happ each singled to begin the ninth inning before Cody Bellinger grounded into a double play. Williams struck out Miles Mastrobuoni to seal the victory.
Brewers center fielder Joey Wiemer made his major league debut and doubled in the third inning. Wiemer was promoted after infielder Luis Urias landed on the injured list with a left hamstring strain. Urias is expected to miss between six-to-eight weeks.
–Field Level Media