The Milwaukee Brewers finally got to play a home opener at Miller Park, but it didn’t work out the way they had planned. The Brewers jumped out to a 4-2 lead, then saw their bullpen surrender four runs in a 6-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Monday night.
The Brewers were playing their first game since a victory in Pittsburgh last Wednesday.
Brett Anderson got his first start in a Brewers uniform but took a drive off of his left foot from Chicago’s Luis Robert. Yoan Mancada doubled him to third. Jose Abreu drove in a run with a ground ball and Yasmani Grandal gave the White Sox a 2-0 lead with a sacrifice fly.
The Brewers cut the lead to 1 in the bottom half of the first when Christian Yelich snapped an 0-for-19 streak with a two-out double. Avisail Garcia followed with a double of his own to score Yelich.
The Brewers took the lead in the 5th when Garcia drove in two runs with a single to left. Ben Gamel’s sixth inning single to center scored Justin Smoak to put the Brewers up 4-2.
Corbin Burnes came on in relief of Anderson in the fourth and pitched well, but made a costly mistake in the 7th. Burnes fell behind Abreu 3-0 before the White Sox slugger took a fast ball over the center field wall to tie the game 4-4.
David Phelps then came on and with two outs and runners on the corners, uncorked a wild pitch to give the White Sox the go-ahead run. The White Sox got some insurance in the ninth when Moncada homered to right off of Corey Knebel to make it 6-4 Chicago.
In the bottom of the ninth, Keston Hiura doubled to bring Christian Yelich to the plate with two outs. Yelich grounded to second to end it, giving the White Sox the first game in the series.
Brandon Woodruff (1-1, 1.59) pitches for the Brewers in game two of the series on Tuesday night, facing Chicago’s Lucas Giolito (0-1, 6.52).