The Milwaukee Brewers opened their 2025 National League Division Series against the Chicago Cubs with a resounding 9-3 victory on Saturday at American Family Field, on the strength of a franchise-record-tying performance from ace Freddy Peralta.
Peralta brought the heat through 5⅔ overpowering innings, striking out nine batters while allowing only four hits, three walks, and two earned runs. His nine strikeouts matched the Brewers’ single-game postseason record previously set by Don Sutton, Yovani Gallardo, and Brandon Woodruff. Despite giving up solo home runs to Michael Busch in the first inning and Ian Happ in the sixth, Peralta kept Milwaukee in control, earning the first postseason win of his eight-year career.
The Brewers' offense set the tone early, scoring six runs in the first inning alone against Cubs starter Matthew Boyd and reliever Michael Soroka. After Busch’s leadoff homer gave Chicago a 1-0 lead, only the third leadoff home run in Cubs postseason history, Milwaukee responded with a historic offensive burst.
Consecutive doubles by Christian Yelich, Brice Turang, and William Contreras quickly put the Brewers ahead 2-1. An error by Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner and an RBI single by Blake Perkins expanded the lead to 6-1 before the inning concluded, tying a franchise postseason record for runs in a single inning.
Jackson Chourio became the first player in MLB history to record three hits in the first two innings of a postseason game. Chourio drove in three runs on a combination of singles and a bases-loaded infield hit, although his day ended prematurely due to right hamstring tightness.
Milwaukee stayed on the attack in the second inning, scoring three more runs on five singles and two walks, bringing the total to nine. Every Brewer except Joey Ortiz recorded a hit, with Ortiz contributing two walks from the No. 9 spot. Milwaukee finished the game with 13 hits and eight RBIs, converting 7-of-17 opportunities with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, Chicago went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position and totaled just five hits.
Nico Hoerner went deep off Jared Koenig in the eighth to record the Cubs’ last run of the night in a 9-3 defeat.
The Brewers will host Game 2 of the best-of-five series on Monday.
