MILWAUKEE — Christian Yelich, Blake Perkins and Willy Adames each had home runs, and the Milwaukee Brewers came back to life against Shota Imanaga to beat the Chicago Cubs 10-6 on Wednesday.
Rookie Joey Ortiz served as the leadoff hitter, something unprecedented in his career, and hit a double off Imanaga (5-1) in the first inning. Two batters later, Yelich sent the ball 441 feet to right-center field for a home run that gave the Brewers an early 2-0 lead.
Imanaga came into the match with an ERA of 0.84, the most outstanding in the Major Leagues. He had allowed five earned runs in his nine starts before allowing seven on Wednesday.
His effectiveness thus deteriorated to 1.86.
Yelich’s sixth homer — and his first since April 10 against Cincinnati — ended Milwaukee’s streak of 32 2/3 scoreless innings against Chicago starters this season. He contributed the only runs allowed by Imanaga in the first inning.
Jared Koenig (5-1) pitched two scoreless innings in relief to take the win.
For the Cubs, Dominican Christopher Morel was 0-for-5 with an RBI.
For the Brewers, Venezuelans William Contreras 4-1 with one run scored, Jackson Chourio 4-0. The Dominicans Adames 3-2 with two runs scored and three RBIs, Gary Sánchez 4-1 with one run scored and two RBIs.
