Darwin Barney and Bryan LaHair hit the Cubs' first homers of the season, but Cubs still lose to the Brewers

The Cubs played their first night game of the season at Wrigley Field tonight and lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-5.  Darwin Barney hit the team's first home run of the season in the first inning to tie the game.  Bryan LaHair hit a home run that landed on Sheffield Avenue in the second inning.

Bryan LaHair hit a homer onto Sheffield Avenue in the second inning (photo from Chicago Tribune)

Chris Volstad had his first start for the Cubs and gave up three runs on five hits over five innings.  He also allowed two walks and threw six strikeouts and was pulled after throwing 87 pitches in the sixth inning.

Starter Chris Volstad collects his thoughts Monday night after allowing a solo home run to Rickie Weeks in the third inning. (Scott Strazzante/Tribune photo)

Shawn Camp came in to pitch in the the sixth and allowed a leadoff single to Corey Hart, who ended up scoring on Mat Gamel's triple.  One out later, Gamel scored on Jonathan Lucroy's sacrifice fly for a 5-3 Brewers lead. 

The Cubs threatened to tie the game in the ninth, scoring twice to make it a two-run game and putting runners at second and third with one out, but came up short.

Tonight was former Cubs' third baseman Aramis Ramirez's first time back at Wrigley Field since being traded to the Brewers.  He received cheers and boos from the crowd.  "It's different," Ramirez said. "I spent most of the time in my career, almost nine years, here, on the other side. Being in the visitor's clubhouse is a little weird."

Cubs manager Dale Sveum was also facing his former team tonight.  Sveum was on the Brewers coaching staff for six seasons, including the last three as the hitting coach, before accepting the Cubs manager position last November.  The nice part was that he was able to take over the scouting report.  "I did most of it, to tell you the truth," Sveum said Monday.  "It was pretty easy to go over the scouting report and I might have given some people a series off that way.  I was able to handle the whole deal."

The Cubs and Brewers will play game 2 of the 4 game series tomorrow night at 7:05pm at Wrigley Field, where Paul Maholm will make his first start for the Cubs since being acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates during the offseason.