Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (5/18/26): Brewers 9, Cubs 3 – Milwaukee Snaps Wrigley Winning Streak
The Cubs home winning streak came to an end Monday night when the Brewers beat them handedly. Starting pitcher Shōta Imanaga had his worst outing of the season and the outcome was decided early.
Christian Yelich got the scoring started with a solo home run in the top of the 2nd inning. Milwaukee busted the game open with four runs in the 3rd. Jake Bauers singled in one, Sal Frelick had a two-run double, and Jackson Chourio had an RBI single to make it 5-0.
Imanaga’s night mercifully came to an end after he gave up a three-run homer to Bauers in the top of the 5th. Chicago finally got on the board against Brandon Sproat in the bottom of the frame on a two-run dinger by Dansby Swanson and an RBI double from Michael Busch.
That would be as close as the Cubs would get on Monday as the Brewers added one more run and won 9-3. (Box score)
Key Moment
Imanaga needed almost 40 pitches to get through the 3rd inning where Milwaukee batted around and scored four runs.
Why the Cubs Lost
They got buried by a bad pitching performance and couldn’t recover.
Stats That Matter
- Shōta has not been able to figure out the Brewers the past couple seasons: 4.2 IP, 8 R, 9 H, 2 K, and 3 BB.
- Busch had a pair of doubles on Monday.
- Carson Kelly also had a couple of singles.
Bottom Line
The Cubs continue to have issues when they play Milwaukee, particularly at Wrigley Field. They need to try to figure it out because the Brewers look like their toughest competition in the NL Central.
On Deck
Game two of the series is Tuesday night at 6:40pm CT. Ben Brown takes the hill against Jacob Misiorowski in a matchup broadcast on Marquee with a radio feed on The Score.
