MILWAUKEE — Christian Yelich became the first major leaguer to hit for the cycle twice in one season against the same team, driving in four runs to lead the Milwaukee Brewers over the Cincinnati Reds 8-0 on Monday night.
Less than three weeks after his cycle in Cincinnati, the streaking slugger accomplished the feat against the last-place Reds once again to help the Brewers in their playoff pursuit. Milwaukee began the night 21⁄2 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central but with a three-game lead in the wild-card race.
Yelich singled in the first inning, doubled in the second, hit a two-run home run in the fifth and
completed the cycle when he added a two-run triple in the sixth. With the Brewers nursing a large lead, he was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the eighth.
Yelich’s huge second half has turned him into a top contender for the NL MVP award. He also hit for the cycle when he went 6 for 6 in a 13-12 comeback victory Aug. 29 at Cincinnati, making him the fifth player to turn the trick twice in one season. The only player who had accomplished the feat since 1931 was Aaron Hill in 2012.
Yelich put the Brewers up 4-0 in the fifth with his 31st home run. Domingo Santana, who hit 30 home runs last year for the Brewers but spent most of this season at Class AAA, opened the fifth with his second pinch-hit home run in two games.
Wade Miley (5-2) labored through five innings and allowed five hits. He had two runners aboard in the second, third and fourth.
Josh Hader struck out the side in the sixth, and Brandon Woodruff finished with three spotless innings for his first save.
Anthony DeSclafani (7-6) gave up 4 runs and 7 hits with 2 walks in 5 innings.
Milwaukee extended the lead to 8-0 in the sixth, capped by Yelich’s two-run triple to right-center. CARDINALS 11, BRAVES 6 Kolten Wong hit the first of four St. Louis home runs, Miles Mikolas won his third consecutive start and the Cardinals beat NL East-leading Atlanta to give their playoff push another boost.
METS 9, PHILLIES 4 Michael Conforto had a career-high 6 RBI and finished a triple shy of the cycle, and Zack Wheeler pitched 7 solid innings for his career-best 12th win for visiting New York.
MARLINS 8, NATIONALS 5 Reliever Wander Suero balked in a run while visiting Washington blew a four-run lead. Washington led 4-0 after 41/2 innings but trailed by the end of the sixth. Suero let in the go-ahead run, balking with pinch-hitter Rafael Ortega batting and Austin Dean at third base to put Miami ahead 5-4.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
RAYS 3, RANGERS 0 Tyler Glasnow allowed
two infield singles in six innings for his first victory since visiting Tampa Bay traded Chris Archer to get the right-hander. Ji-Man Choi homered and drove in two runs to help the Rays improve to a major league-best 21-5 since Aug. 19.
TWINS 6, TIGERS 1 Kohl Stewart pitched six solid innings and Eddie Rosario homered for visiting Minnesota before leaving with an injury in a victory over Detroit.
MARINERS 4, ASTROS 1 Rookie pinch-hitter Daniel Vogelbach’s first career grand slam with two outs in the eighth inning lifted visiting Seattle over Houston. The loss trimmed Houston’s lead in the AL West to four games over Oakland. BLUE JAYS 5, ORIOLES 0 Rookie Ryan Borucki (4-4) pitched eight innings of three-hit ball to lead visiting Toronto past Baltimore, which lost its 107th game, tied for most in a season since its arrival in 1954.
INTERLEAGUE
PIRATES 7, ROYALS 6 Rookie Jacob Stallings hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to rally host Pittsburgh past Kansas City. After Jordan Luplow grounded into a double play, Kevin Kramer walked and moved to second on Kevin Newman’s single. Stallings then singled off Ben Lively (0-3), scoring Kramer.