By STEVE MEGARGEE, AP
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Garrett Mitchell went 4 for 5 with a homer and four RBIs as the Milwaukee Brewers scored all their runs in the first five innings of a 13-9 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday night.
William Contreras hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the fourth inning and Brice Turang added a two-run shot one night after the Brewers clinched a playoff berth by trouncing the Reds 20-0. Never before in franchise history had the Brewers totaled that many runs in a two-game stretch.
The Reds headed to Milwaukee after losing 14-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, so they’ve allowed 47 runs over their last three games. According to Sportradar, the last time the Reds gave up 47-plus runs over a three-game stretch was in September 1901.
No major league team has given up that many runs in a span of three games since July 2022, when the Boston Red Sox allowed 55.
The Brewers’ magic number for clinching the NL Central dropped to three.
Eugenio Suárez and Juan Brito homered for Cincinnati.
Turang and Mitchell hit two-run homers off Brady Singer (6-14) in the first inning to give Milwaukee a 4-0 lead. Cincinnati rallied off Shane Drohan to tie it at 5-all on Brito’s two-run blast in the fourth.
Milwaukee responded with three runs in the fourth and five in the fifth.
Singer allowed eight runs in four innings. Graham Ashcraft allowed five runs in the fifth while retiring only one batter.
Chad Patrick (9-4) got the win by striking out four in 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Abner Uribe worked the ninth for his seventh save.
The news wasn’t all good for the Brewers.
In his first relief appearance of the season, Kyle Harrison allowed hits to each of the four batters he faced, and they all ended up scoring. Harrison has given up 19 runs – 17 earned – over 7 1/3 innings in his last three outings as his ERA has climbed from 2.79 to 3.98.
Chase Burns (15-3, 2.73 ERA) pitches for the Reds and Robert Gasser (4-5, 4.43) starts for the Brewers on Sunday.
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