![\"Milwaukee](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ctc-z-White-Sox-Brewers-Baseball_261118996.jpg\")
Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich runs the bases after hitting a three-run home run during the eighth inning of a game against the Chicago White Sox, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo\/Kayla Wolf)<\/p>\nMILWAUKEE \u2014 There is stumbling out of the gate. And then there are the three games the Chicago White Sox lost to begin the 2026 season against the Milwaukee Brewers.<\/p>\n
The series came to an excruciating end Sunday with the Sox blowing a five-run lead and falling 9-7 in front of 32,737 at American Family Field.<\/p>\n
Christian Yelich capped Milwaukee\u2019s comeback with a go-ahead, pinch-hit, three-run home run against closer Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez with two outs in the eighth inning. The Sox surrendered six runs in the eighth on the way to being swept.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a really bad moment for our team, for me,\u201d said Dom\u00ednguez, who allowed two runs on two hits in one-third of an inning. \u201cI was so close to getting out of that inning and just made a big mistake right down the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n
After losing the first two games by a combined 20-3, the Sox couldn\u2019t have asked for a better start Sunday when Colson Montgomery hit a grand slam in the first inning. Munetaka Murakami hit a solo home run in the second inning \u2014 his third home run in three games \u2014 and Everson Pereira homered in the third as the Sox built a 7-2 lead.<\/p>\n
And then came the eighth-inning meltdown. The Sox entered the inning ahead 7-3. The Brewers loaded the bases with one out for Brice Turang, who drove in a run with a single against Chris Murphy to make it 7-4.<\/p>\n
Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich runs the bases after hitting a three-run home run during the eighth inning of a game against the Chicago White Sox, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo\/Kayla Wolf)<\/p>\n
Dom\u00ednguez entered with the bases still loaded. He got William Contreras to pop out to third baseman Miguel Vargas, but Luis Rengifo followed with a two-run single, which cut the Sox lead to 7-6.<\/p>\n
Yelich followed with the home run on a 2-2 splitter to put the Brewers ahead. Tristan Peters singled leading off the ninth, but Trevor Megill retired the next three batters as the Sox fell to 0-3.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly some things that we have to work on,\u201d manager Will Venable said. \u201cWe know that coming in. Some of the things that we emphasized in spring training that we got exposed with, to be honest, this series.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was a good, hard-fought game today that didn\u2019t go our way. There\u2019s good learning experiences, and we got to evaluate some individual things here, get better at them and move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are three takeaways from the season-opening series.<\/p>\n
1 Murakami was one of the few bright spots.
\n![\"Munetaka](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ctc-z-2268954686_261114784.jpg\")
Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox hits a solo home run in the second inning against the Milwaukee Brewers on March 29, 2026, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (John Fisher\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Murakami collected his first major-league hit<\/a> in the ninth inning on opening day, a home run to right field.<\/p>\n He homered again Saturday. And Sunday, his high fly ball in the second inning tipped off the glove of leaping right fielder Sal Frelick and went over the wall for his third home run in three games.<\/p>\n Murakami joined Colorado\u2019s Trevor Story (four in 2016), Seattle\u2019s Kyle Lewis (three in 2019) and Cleveland\u2019s Chase DeLauter (three in 2026 games entering Sunday) as the only players to homer in three-plus straight games to start their major-league career.<\/p>\n Murakami went 3-for-9 with four walks in the three games.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s still a long way to go and a lot of ways to improve,\u201d Murakami said through an interpreter on Sunday. \u201cSo that is what I\u2019ll keep on doing in the upcoming days.\u201d<\/p>\n 2. What could go wrong, did go wrong for the Sox. The Sox struck out 20 times and walked 10 batters in Thursday\u2019s 14-2 loss.<\/p>\n Saturday, they couldn\u2019t make the defensive plays<\/a> while falling 6-1.<\/p>\n Left fielder Andrew Benintendi explained a sequence from the first inning Saturday, when a fly ball hit near the wall by Turang resulted in a double.<\/p>\n \u201cI was going back trying to time up my jump, but I thought by the time I jumped, I don\u2019t think I was going to be able to get it,\u201d Benintendi said Sunday morning. \u201cAt that point, I\u2019m trying to keep it to a double and not let it ricochet off the fence into a triple.\u201d<\/p>\n Milwaukee ran all over the Sox on Saturday, stealing seven bases.<\/p>\n Sunday saw the Sox squander a grand slam by Montgomery and a big lead.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a tough series,\u201d Venable said Sunday. \u201cSome good stuff today. Obviously, we weren\u2019t able to finish it off, but we\u2019ll move on and be ready for tomorrow (in Miami).\u201d<\/p>\n 3. An injury cut short Andrew Vaughn\u2019s first series against his former team. The Sox selected first baseman Andrew Vaughn with the No. 3 pick in the 2019 draft. He made his major-league debut with the club in 2021.<\/p>\n Vaughn spent portions of five seasons with the Sox before being traded to the Brewers last June. He faced his former team for the first time in a regular-season game on Thursday, going 1-for-4 with an RBI single during Milwaukee\u2019s 14-2 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was a short-lived reunion weekend for Vaughn, who went on the 10-day injured list ahead of Saturday\u2019s game with a left hamate fracture.<\/p>\n Before Thursday\u2019s game, Vaughn reflected on his time with the Sox. He soaked in whatever he could from Sox veterans, including first baseman Jos\u00e9 Abreu.<\/p>\n \u201cHe always said the right things at the right time,\u201d Vaughn said. \u201c(My) first spring training (in 2020), with (catcher) James McCann, McCann was awesome. We had so many guys, if you looked back at that team, we had how many guys with 10 years service time \u2014 (pitchers) Lance Lynn, (Dallas) Keuchel, Joe Kelly, (Kendall) Graveman. You name it, we had those guys. Just learning from them I felt like it helped me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n![\"Colson](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ctc-z-2268953712_261114454.jpg\")
Colson Montgomery of the Chicago White Sox hits a grand slam in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers on March 29, 2026, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (John Fisher\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"Milwaukee](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ctc-l-sox-spring-training-0222-4A_259834434.jpg\")
Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Andrew Vaughn hugs Chicago White Sox photographer Darren Georgia before playing the Sox in a Cactus League game at Camelback Ranch on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Glendale, Ariz. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n