MILWAUKEE (AP) — Christian Yelich and Josh Hader, breakout stars during Milwaukee’s surprising run to the NL Championship Series last year, are managing to look even better in 2019.

Yelich became the first MVP to homer in the first three games of the following season, Hader closed things out with an immaculate inning and the Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Saturday night.

After a making a sliding catch in right field for the first out of the game, Yelich got Milwaukee on the board in his first at-bat, sending a hanging slider from Dakota Hudson (0-1) to left for a 1-0 lead.

“He’s swinging the bat really good,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “Two opposite-field homers in the last two days.”

Travis Shaw and Mike Moustakas went deep in the third for Milwaukee, spoiling Hudson’s first career major league start after 26 relief appearances as a rookie last season.

“Those guys are really strong,” Hudson said. “A lot of veteran hitters over there. They knew what they could do and they took the ball the backside. It wasn’t like they were hitting a ton of mistakes. They knew what they wanted and executed and put a good swing on it.”

The right-hander was charged with four runs — three earned — seven hits and two walks while striking out six over 4 1/3 innings.

“He competed really well, he went after it,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “I really appreciate the way he dealt with adversity. He went right back at it. So, it’s a really good trait. Dakota’s going to be more than fine.”

Milwaukee right-hander Brandon Woodruff (1-0) held St. Louis to two runs and struck out five over five innings. The Brewers’ bullpen took over from there with four scoreless innings, capped by Hader’s perfect ninth — nine pitches, all fastballs, for three strikeouts.

Center fielder Tyler O’Neill was the only player to make contact. He fouled off Hader’s first offering before coming up empty on the next two pitches. Hader drew three straight swings and misses from Dexter Fowler and two more after pinch-hitter Yario Munoz looked at strike one.

“It’s as good an inning as you can have,” Counsell said. “You can’t have a better inning than that. He’s had a great start to the season.”

Including his two-inning, four-strikeout performance on opening day, Hader has thrown 30 pitches, all of them fastballs.

“The way we look at it is, why change something or why try to fix something that’s not broken?” Hader said. “We were just trying to attack the zone and continue to read the swings and what we see. That was one of the big things, continuing to attack with our strengths.”

YELICH CHASING HISTORY

Yelich is the 35th MLB player and first Brewer to homer in three straight games to start a season.

The major league record for a home run streak to start a year is four games. Five players have accomplished that feat: Willie Mays (1971), Mark McGwire (1998), Nelson Cruz (2011), Chris Davis (2013) and Trevor Story (2016).

WONG STAYS HOT

Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong recorded his second multihit game Saturday, going 2 for 3 with a double. Through three games, Wong is 6 for 10 with a walk, two home runs and four RBI.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: OF Harrison Bader got a day off after going 2 for 8 with a home run through the first two games of the season. With Bader out, Tyler O’Neill made his first start of the season.

Brewers: OF Ryan Braun was left out of the starting lineup but appeared as a pinch-hitter, flying out to left in the sixth.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Michael Wacha is 5-0 with a 4.19 ERA in 11 appearances (10 starts) against Milwaukee, including a 2-0 mark and 3.80 ERA in five appearances (four starts) at Miller Park.

Brewers: RHP Corbin Burnes makes his first major league start Sunday in the series finale. Burns opened eyes as a rookie last season, going 7-0 with a 2.61 ERA in 30 relief appearances then allowing just a pair of runs over nine postseason innings.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee center fielder Lorenzo Cain soared above the wall to rob Jose Martinez of a tying home run for the final out, lifting Christian Yelich and the Brewers over the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 in an opener Thursday.

With at least one Cardinals player in the bullpen already raising his arms to celebrate, Cain pulled back the pinch-hit drive by Martinez in right-center. A fired-up Cain flung the ball high into the air as the Brewers poured onto the field to celebrate.

Yelich got right back to work after winning the National League MVP award last season, putting Milwaukee ahead to stay with a three-run homer off Miles Mikolas in the third. The Miller Park crowd of 45,304 roared as Yelich glided around the bases.

Mike Moustakas and pitcher Jhoulys Chacin also connected for the Brewers in a performance that looked a lot like their run to the NL Championship Series last October. Josh Hader retired the first two batters before Cain’s play finished off the save.

Kolten Wong homered twice for St. Louis and Harrison Bader also connected. The Cardinals blew a 3-0 lead in their fifth consecutive loss against the Brewers, including a three-game sweep last September that helped propel Milwaukee to the NL Central title.

Paul Goldschmidt went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a walk in his first regular-season game for St. Louis since he was acquired in an offseason trade with Arizona. The All-Star slugger had a short conversation with plate umpire Gary Cederstrom after he looked at a called third strike in each of his first two at-bats.

Chacin (1-0) struck out seven in 5⅓ innings in his third Opening Day start. He also helped himself with two hits, singling and scoring on Yelich’s drive before hitting a 2-2 pitch from Mikolas into Milwaukee’s bullpen in left-center for his second career homer in the fifth.

Mikolas (0-1), a surprise star last season when he went 18-4 in his first year with the Cardinals, allowed five runs and five hits in five innings.

Wong’s second homer made it 5-4 in the seventh, but Milwaukee’s depleted bullpen held on. Hader struck out four in two perfect innings, fanning Goldschmidt, Paul DeJong and Marcell Ozuna in the eighth.

Hader was a key figure for the Brewers last year, and he became even more important when key relievers Jeremy Jeffress and Corey Knebel opened this season on the injured list. Jeffress is coming back from a sore right shoulder, but Knebel could be headed for season-ending elbow surgery.

The Cardinals got off to a fast start, scoring the first three runs on consecutive first-pitch homers by Wong and Bader in the second. Wong connected after Dexter Fowler reached on a two-out walk, and Bader hit a deep drive to left.

The Brewers got one back when Moustakas went deep with two out in the bottom half of the inning. Moustakas also did just fine in his first game at second base after beginning his career as a third baseman.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: 3B Matt Carpenter showed no sign of any trouble after he was bothered by back tightness at the end of spring training. He went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. … LHP Brett Cecil (carpal tunnel syndrome) was moved to the 60-day injured list to create a 40-man roster spot for RHP Merandy Gonzalez, who was claimed off waivers from San Francisco and optioned to Double-A Springfield.

Brewers: Knebel said he will make a decision Friday on his next course of action. He could have Tommy John surgery and then return at some point next year, or try to rehab the injury.

UP NEXT

Young right-handers Jack Flaherty and Freddy Peralta get the ball when the series resumes Friday night. St. Louis is counting on the 23-year-old Flaherty to help anchor the rotation after he went 8-9 with a 3.34 ERA in 28 starts last year. Peralta, who turns 23 in June, won a spot in Milwaukee’s rotation during spring training. He went 6-4 with a 4.25 ERA in 16 appearances last season during his first year in the majors, including 14 starts.

— Associated Press —