Five runs, the number of runs the Cubs scored Tuesday evening, is not a lot of runs.

It was, however, the most runs the Cubs had scored in a game since an 8-4 win over the Phillies a week earlier, and the most runs they’d scored at Wrigley Field since a 7-3 win over the Reds June 1.

Best of all, it was enough runs for a 5-3 win over the Brewers in the opening game of their series. Pete Crow-Armstrong led the way offensively and defensively, as he’s done so many times this year. Kyle Tucker had three hits and Seiya Suzuki slammed a three-run homer.

Let’s begin at the beginning.

The Cubs got a couple of runners on in the first, including PCA being hit by a pitch, but could not score. Ben Brown then got touched up for a pair of runs in the second on a two-run homer by Isaac Collins.

The Cubs got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning. With two out, Nico Hoerner singled. Matt Shaw then doubled him in [VIDEO].

Brown allowed a bit of traffic on the basepaths in the third and fourth innings but kept the Brewers scoreless, with some help from his defense. Shaw made this nice grab of an attempted bunt [VIDEO].

Ian Happ followed that with one of his patented sliding catches [VIDEO].

The Cubs took the lead in the fifth. Happ led off the inning with a walk and Tucker doubled him to third.

That’s when Suzuki sent one into the bleachers for a 4-2 Cubs lead [VIDEO].

That ball was crushed! [VIDEO]

More on Suzuki’s homer from BCB’s JohnW53:

Seiya Suzuki’s three-run homer in the fifth inning snapped a streak of 50 consecutive innings in which the Cubs had scored no more than two runs, going back to when they tallied three in the eighth inning at Philadelphia on June 10.

Those three had snapped a streak of 65 innings with 0-2 runs since they had tallied four in the fourth inning at Washington a week earlier.

So, the Cubs had one inning with more than two runs in a span of 126 innings, spanning 14 games.

Brown was lifted after the fifth inning and 86 pitches. He struggled a bit with command and control (only 49 strikes) but otherwise it was a decent outing. Here’s more [VIDEO].

Génesis Cabrera got touched up for a run in the sixth and it might have been worse if not for this strikeout/throw out double play that went to review [VIDEO].

The Cubs went down quietly in the sixth and seventh, and Brad Keller and Caleb Thielbar threw scoreless seventh and eighth innings, respectively.

In the top of the eighth, PCA flashed some glove [VIDEO].

Check out the look on Thielbar’s face in that clip. He can’t believe it either. I don’t think any other MLB center fielder gets close to making that catch.

PCA came up in the bottom of the inning and launched this majestic home run off the right-field video board [VIDEO].

That ball was absolutely demolished! [VIDEO]

It was PCA’s 19th of the year, and fifth off a lefthanded pitcher. Here are some Statcast numbers for both the catch and the home run [VIDEO].

At 452 feet, that’s the longest Cubs home run of the year to date. Remind us again how long that home run was…

More on PCA’s day from BCB’s JohnW53:

This was the second of Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 208 career games in which he was hit by a pitch and drew a walk.

In the first, on Aug. 24 of last year at Miami, he also homered, with a man on base. He had a single in that game, too.

Daniel Palencia entered for the save opportunity. He allowed a two-out double, and then induced a fly ball to who else — PCA — for the final out [VIDEO].

Here are PCA’s postgame comments [VIDEO].

In that clip, PCA mentions the good-natured home-run competition he and Suzuki are having, and that competition also shows in their RBI count — PCA now with 58 and Seiya with 61. They rank second (Suzuki) and tied for sixth (PCA) in MLB in that category and are now on pace for 128 (PCA) and 135 (Suzuki). Either of those figures would be the most by a Cub since Sammy Sosa had 160 in 2001. The most recent Cubs to have 100+ RBI were Javier Báez (111) and Anthony Rizzo (101) in 2018.

And here are postgame remarks from Craig Counsell [VIDEO].

The Cubs move to a season-high 17 games over .500 and here’s the article I wrote last month on various Cubs levels over the break-even point. They also now have their largest division lead of the year at 6½ games over the Brewers and lead the Cardinals and Reds, who both won Tuesday, by seven games.

The Cubs will go for the series win, weather permitting, Wednesday evening at Wrigley Field. Jameson Taillon will start for the Cubs and rookie sensation Jacob Misiorowski will go for Milwaukee. Game time is 7:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.