Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacín started the 2019 season on the wrong foot, yielding a pair of home runs to Cardinals Kolten Wong and Harrison Bader in the second inning. Chacín atoned for it by hitting a home run of his own in the bottom of the fifth off of Miles Mikolas, pushing the Brewers’ lead to 5-3.
#PitchersWhoRake are so back. #OpeningDay pic.twitter.com/874LP1Vug7
— MLB (@MLB) March 28, 2019
As MLB.com’s Andrew Simon notes, Chacín is the first pitcher to homer on Opening Day since Madison Bumgarner in 2017 (he hit two). Before Bumgarner, Clayton Kershaw had been the last pitcher to do it in 2013 against the Giants. Simon adds that Chacín is the first Milwaukee pitcher to homer on Opening Day since Warren Spahn (Braves).
On the mound, Chacín went 5 1/3 innings, yielding the three runs to the Cardinals on three hits and a pair of walks with seven strikeouts. The 31-year-old is coming off of back-to-back solid campaigns with the Padres and Brewers and is looking to continue that in 2019.