Tyler Chatwood pitched three-hit ball over six innings, Willson Contreras homered and the Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-1 on Sunday to take two of three in their opening series.
Chatwood (1-0) gave the Cubs just the sort of outing they were looking for after working mostly out of the bullpen last season. He struck out eight and walked two in an impressive start for a pitcher who struggled with his control his first two years in Chicago.
Contreras smacked an RBI double in the Cubs’ four-run fourth and a long solo homer in the seventh. Ian Happ added a two-run drive in the eighth and Anthony Rizzo belted a solo shot one out later. It was the second homer for both Happ and Rizzo.
A day after things got testy between the two teams, the piped-in noise seemed loud enough to drown out any chatter between the dugouts. But the Brewers, who broke through against Yu Darvish in an 8-3 win after they were shut out by Kyle Hendricks on opening day, couldn’t get much going.
Leading 1-0, the Cubs sent 10 batters to the plate in the fourth. The first six reached safely, starting with Kyle Schwarber’s walk and Contreras’ double.
Freddy Peralta then walked Jason Heyward before Corey Knebel gave up RBI singles to Nico Hoerner, Victor Caratini and Happ, making it 5-0.
Chatwood didn’t allow a hit until back-to-back singles by Ben Gamel and Orlando Arcia with two out in the fifth that cut the lead to four.
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Peralta (0-1) was charged with four runs and three hits in three-plus innings.
