Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (10/4/25): Brewers 9, Cubs 3 – Boyd Blasted in Game One Loss

The Cubs opened the NLDS with a bang Saturday afternoon with Michael Busch hitting a solo home run in the first at-bat of the game. That would be a fleeting positive moment for Chicago in this one, however, as the Brewers crushed Matthew Boyd and the relievers that followed him. Milwaukee eventually scored nine runs in the first two innings and rolled to a Game 1 victory.

Busch got every bit of a Freddy Peralta fastball, mashing it into the second deck in right field and giving the North Siders a brief 1-0 lead. Boyd was pitching on short rest and had absolutely nothing in the tank Saturday. He gave up three consecutive doubles to open the bottom of the 1st, with Brice Turang and William Contreras driving in runs on theirs.

Nico Hoerner completely whiffed on a routine ground ball to second for an error that allowed Contreras to score. Blake Perkins then singled home another tally and sent the Cubs starter to the showers. Michael Soroka came on and surrendered a two-run single to Jackson Chourio before the frame mercifully ended with Milwaukee in front 6-1.

Soroka had more trouble in the bottom of the 2nd, giving up another two-run single to Caleb Durbin before being relieved by Aaron Civale. Civale gave up an infield single to Chourio that made it 9-1, but then restored order by pitching the next four frames without a run.

Ian Happ hit a solo homer off of Peralta in the top of the 5th and Hoerner took Jared Koenig deep in the 8th, but it was just window dressing as the Brewers cruised to a 9-3 win. (Box score)

Key Moment

Hoerner’s error took a bad inning and turned it into a complete disaster.

Why the Cubs Lost

The 1st-inning meltdown put this game on ice, especially with a team as good as Milwaukee on the other side.

Stats That Matter

• Huge effort by Civale to save the rest of the bullpen: 4.1 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 3 K, 0 BB.
• Chicago had six total hits, three of which were solo home runs.

Bottom Line

The Cubs took a gamble starting Boyd on short rest, and it did not work to say the least. The goal going into Milwaukee was to get a split of the first two games, which is still achievable. Chicago has to shake this off and give a better effort in the second game.

On Deck

The aforementioned second game of the series is Monday night at 8:08pm CT. Starters have not been named for the matchup that is televised exclusively on TBS with a radio feed on 670 The Score.