Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant didn’t waste any time getting his spring training off to a hot start on Saturday, and he revealed after the game that he is ready to prove his doubters wrong in the coming year.

“It was a good start for me,” he said. “I’m really happy about it.”

Bryant went 2-for-2 in his first Cactus League game, as the Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-4 at Sloan Park in Mesa. The slugger hit his first spring home run in the first inning of the game, and it helped the Cubs as they scored a win over their National League Central rivals.

For Bryant, the home run will hopefully be the first of many, as he looks to bounce back from a disappointing 2018 season that saw him miss 60 games with a shoulder injury that limited his performance even when he was on the field.

Bryant says that the negative comments he read about himself, both on social media and elsewhere on the internet, are motivating him as he approaches the 2019 campaign.

“This game is all about ‘what have you done for me lately,’ and boy did I get to experience that last year,” he said. “When you’re not playing, you have a whole lot of time to sit there and go through a Twitter rabbit hole, seeing stuff like ‘trade him’ and stuff. I was like ‘alright. Keep ‘em coming.’ I’m motivated.”

News and Notes:

-Cubs skipper Joe Maddon had Jason Heyward bat lead-off in the game against the Brewers, and the right-fielder went 1-for-2 with a run scored in the contest. New acquisition Daniel Descalso, who batted in the clean-up spot for the Cubs, went 1-for-2 with an RBI in his first action in a Cubs uniform.

-Catcher Willson Contreras and shortstop Javier Baez did not get the spring off to a good start, as they went a combined 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the game.

-Before the game, Maddon announced that Jon Lester will pitch on Monday in his Cactus League debut. Yu Darvish, who missed most of last season with an elbow issue, will get the start on Tuesday as the team’s rotation takes its first turn of the year.

-Pitcher Matt Carasiti struck out the side in his lone inning of work to highlight the Cubs’ pitching performances of the day. Alberto Baldonado and Oscar De La Cruz also worked scoreless innings of relief in the game.