CHICAGO (AP) — Jake Bauers homered and drove in four runs, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs 9-3 on Monday night in the first meeting this season between the longtime NL Central rivals.
Christian Yelich went deep for the second straight day as Milwaukee used a 13-hit attack to improve to 9-2 in its last 11 games. Andrew Vaughn had two hits and scored twice.
Milwaukee pulled within a half-game of Chicago for the division lead. The Brewers won the Central in 2025 for the third consecutive year and then eliminated the Cubs in a five-game NL Division Series.
Chicago lost for the seventh time in nine games. The Cubs had won 15 in a row at home for their longest win streak at Wrigley Field since an 18-game run in September 1935.
Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga (4-4) was tagged for eight runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings in his worst start of the season. He allowed a total of eight earned runs over his previous five starts combined.
Bauers hit an RBI single in Milwaukee's four-run fourth. He connected for his seventh homer in the fifth, a three-run drive to right that gave the Brewers an 8-0 lead.
Bauers is batting .438 (14 for 32) with two homers and eight RBIs during a nine-game hitting streak.
Dansby Swanson hit a two-run homer for the Cubs, who dropped two of three against the crosstown White Sox over the weekend. Michael Busch had two hits, including a run-scoring double.
Brewers right-hander Brandon Sproat surrendered three runs and three hits in 4 2/3 innings. Shane Drohan (2-1) replaced Sproat in the fifth and pitched 4 1/3 innings of four-hit ball for the win.
Jacob Misiorowski (3-2, 2.12 ERA) starts on Tuesday night for Milwaukee, and fellow right-hander Ben Brown (1-1, 1.60 ERA) pitches for Chicago.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
CA Is Burning said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.