KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Interstat) — Garrett Mitchell drove in five runs with a first-inning double and a third-inning home run, powering the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.

Mitchell’s early offensive explosion provided all the support needed for starter Chad Patrick and a quartet of relievers as the Brewers won their fourth straight game to improve to 6-1. The Royals fell to 3-4.

The most critical sequence of the game unfolded in the first three innings, where Mitchell single-handedly built an insurmountable lead. Facing Royals starter Luinder Avila in the first, Mitchell followed a Luis Rengifo double and a Christian Yelich fielder’s choice with a two-run double to center field, staking Milwaukee to a 2-0 lead before many in the announced crowd of 17,055 had settled in.

He was far from finished. In the third, after William Contreras doubled and Yelich singled, Mitchell launched a three-run homer to right-center field off Avila, pushing the advantage to 5-0. The five RBIs matched a career high for Mitchell, who entered the game batting .308 with four RBIs over his previous four contests.

From there, the Brewers’ pitching staff took over. Patrick, making his first start of the season, earned the win by navigating five scoreless innings. He scattered four hits and three walks, working around traffic in multiple frames. The Royals put two runners on in the second, third and fourth innings but could not break through against the right-hander, going 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position during his outing.

Kansas City finally cracked the scoreboard in the seventh against Milwaukee’s bullpen. Pinch-hitter Lane Thomas doubled home Nick Loftin, and Bobby Witt Jr. followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 5-2. Aaron Ashby and Abner Uribe combined to limit the damage, with Uribe stranding the potential tying run at the plate to end the seventh.

The Royals threatened again in the ninth against All-Star closer Trevor Megill. A one-out walk to Thomas and a two-out walk to Witt brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Vinnie Pasquantino. Megill ended the drama, however, striking out Pasquantino looking with a 98 mph fastball to seal his second save of the season.

Avila took the loss for Kansas City, surrendering five runs on seven hits over three innings. The Royals’ bullpen provided six innings of scoreless relief, highlighted by two perfect frames from Daniel Lynch IV and two more from Alex Lange, who struck out four.

Offensively, the Brewers collected 10 hits, with Rengifo and Yelich joining Mitchell with multi-hit games. The Royals managed eight hits but stranded nine runners, going 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position. Witt Jr. reached base three times with a single and two walks.

The game, which took 2 hours and 58 minutes to complete, was the first of two between the teams Saturday, with the nightcap scheduled to follow. The victory continued a strong early-season trend for Milwaukee, which has outscored opponents 50-21 through its first seven games.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a higher-scoring affair, forecasting an 8-4 Brewers win. The actual total of seven runs fell under the pregame over/under line of 8, despite Kansas City having been installed as a 1.5-run favorite.

The teams are scheduled to conclude their series Sunday before Milwaukee embarks on a road trip to Boston. The Royals will head to Cleveland to begin a series Monday.