Christian Yelich made history but even a six run rally in the ninth wasn’t enough for the Milwaukee Brewers to overtake the Cincinnati Reds Wednesday afternoon as they fell 14-11 in the rubber game of the series at the Great American Ballpark.
Yelich hit for the cycle for the third time in his career, tying the major league record accomplished only by Bob Meusel, Babe Herman, Adrian Beltre and Trae Turner. But this was the third cycle for Yelich against the Reds, making him the first ever to do it against the same team. He accomplished the feat twice in a 10 day span in 2018.
Yelich doubled in his first at bat, cracked a three run homer in the third inning, got his single in the 5th and completed the fete with a triple during the ninth inning rally. It’s the 10th cycle in franchise history but the first time it came in a loss.
Milwaukee just dug too deep a hole early. Cincinnati scored four times in the first off Adrian Houser and added three more in the second for a 7-0 lead. Only three of the runs were earned as Houser had to overcome a pair of Brewer errors. Tyler Stephenson fueled the Cincinnati offense driving in 4 runs on the day.
Hunter Renfro hit a pair of home runs, Jace Peterson and Mike Brosseau added long balls but the Reds piled up 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th against reliever J.C. Mejia with Colin Moran hitting a three run blast to make it a 14-5 ballgame.
The Brewers batted around in their last ups but fell short. Milwaukee has dropped both series in their weeklong road trip falling to 20-12 on the season but they still maintain a two game lead in the NL Central over St. Louis. After an off-day Thursday, the Brewers finish the road swing with a weekend series in Miami against the Marlins.
