Kyle Schwarber belted his first home run of the season, and Kris Bryant and Willson Contreras each picked up their first doubles, but it wasn’t enough as the Chicago Cubs lost to the Texas Rangers 8-6 on Saturday night.
The Cubs held the lead until the bottom of the eighth inning when Carl Edwards Jr. gave up a towering three run home run to Joey Gallo. Jose LeClerc came into the game to finish off the contest, and sent the Cubs to a 1-1 record in the early stages of the season.
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Bryant went 1-for-3 with a run scored and a pair of walks, and Javier Baez collected two more hits and an RBI in the game. Contreras ended up with a pair of doubles and two RBI as he continued his strong start to the season.
Cubs starting pitcher Yu Darvish made his debut for the 2019 campaign but struggled, giving up seven walks and three earned runs in just two and two-third innings of work.
The Cubs got off to a roaring start in the first inning, as Baez singled to center field to drive in Bryant. Schwarber then hit an RBI single to right to score another run, and Contreras collected an infield single to drive in a third run to make it a 3-0 game.
After Contreras doubled to center field to make it 4-1 in the third inning, the Rangers started slowly chipping away. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two-run home run to make it a 4-3 game, and then in the seventh inning, Shin Soo-Choo hit a two-run single to make it 6-5.
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In the eighth inning, Edwards struggled badly with his command, allowing two baserunners before Gallo launched a deep home run to give the Rangers a lead which they would never relinquish.
Now the Cubs will head into the rubber match of the three game series on Sunday afternoon, with Cole Hamels taking the hill for the North Siders as he faces his former club. First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m., and the game will air on NBC Sports Chicago and ESPN.