CHICAGO – Yu Darvish took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his third straight dominant start, and the major league-leading Chicago Cubs defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 on Thursday night.Darvish allowed just one hit — Justin Smoak’s towering solo homer to right field with one out in the seventh inning on his 98th pitch — before being relieved by Casey Sadler to start the eighth.
The 33-year-old right-hander from Japan struck out 11 and threw 104 pitches.Before Smoak’s drive, Darvish allowed only three baserunners.
He walked Ben Gamel in the second and Orlando Arcia in the fifth, and hit Christian Yelich with a low pitch in the first. Kyle Schwarber hit a solo homer in the second as Chicago improved to 13-3 for the first time since.