Christian Yelich’s 2-run double rallies NL Central champion Brewers to 5-4 win over Pirates

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Christian Yelich’s two-run double in the seventh inning sent the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.

Yelich grounded his double down the left-field line off Carmen Mlodzinski (7-7) to erase a 4-3 deficit. His big hit came one night after the Brewers became the first team in the major leagues to clinch a division title this season, winning their fourth consecutive NL Central crown.

Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy played all his regulars. The Brewers have the best record in the majors at 95-57 and hope to finish atop the overall standings to earn home-field advantage throughout the postseason. Milwaukee has won seven of its past eight games.

Oneil Cruz, Brandon Lowe and Rafael Flores Jr. homered in consecutive innings to put the Pirates ahead 4-3 in the sixth. The Pirates, who have lost four of five, have hit a franchise-record 174 home runs this season, breaking the previous mark of 171 in 1998.

Antonio Senzatela (11-5) retired two batters and Trevor Megill pitched a perfect ninth for his 28th save.

Both starting pitchers, Milwaukee’s Logan Henderson and Pittsburgh’s Jared Jones, allowed three runs in five innings. Jones struck out nine and Henderson fanned eight.

Henderson has given up three runs or fewer in each of his first 22 career starts, one shy of the major league record set by Zac Gallen from 2019-20 with Miami and Arizona.

Consecutive RBI singles by the Brewers’ Andrew Vaughn and Cooper Pratt in the second inning opened the scoring. Brice Turang doubled home a run in the fifth.

Up next

The series concludes Thursday afternoon with Brewers LHP Kyle Harrison (10-4, 3.98 ERA) starting against RHP Wilber Dotel (1-5, 4.84).

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