Christian Yelich hit a walk-off double with two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers celebrated a 3-2 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs on Saturday night.
Yelich laced an opposite-field line drive that bounced on one hop off the wall in left field to score Tyler Austin from first base. It capped a terrific night for Yelich, who finished 2-for-2 with an RBI, three walks and three stolen bases. He now has 30 stolen bases, making him the 10th player in MLB history with 40 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season.
Milwaukee won its second game in a row and improved to 42-31 at home. Yasmani Grandal homered for the Brewers, who trailed entering the bottom of the eighth before mounting a comeback.
Addison Russell homered in a losing effort for Chicago, which dropped 3 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for first place in the National League Central.
Brewers closer Josh Hader (3-5) got the victory after striking out four over two scoreless innings.
Cubs reliever Brandon Kintzler (3-3) took the loss after giving up Yelich's game-winning hit. The Cubs bullpen spoiled a good start by Yu Darvish, who struck out seven, walked one and gave up three hits in five scoreless innings.
The Cubs grabbed a 1-0 lead on Russell's solo blast in the fifth. He drilled a first-pitch changeup an estimated 404 feet to straightaway center field for his ninth homer.
Milwaukee evened the score at 1-1 in the sixth. After Yelich and Eric Thames drew a pair of two-out walks, Ben Gamel singled to right field to bring in Yelich from second base.
The Cubs regained a 2-1 lead when Anthony Rizzo drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of the eighth off Hader, who entered with the bases loaded and none out.
The Brewers quickly pulled even at 2 in the bottom of the eighth. Grandal belted the only pitch of the evening from Cubs right-hander David Phelps out to center field. It was his 25th homer of the season and his third in as many games.
The Cubs learned before the game that shortstop Javier Baez has a hairline fracture in his left thumb and could be out for the rest of the season. The star 26-year-old is hitting .281 with 29 homers and 85 RBIs in 133 games.
--Field Level Media
Chi. Cubs | Milwaukee | |
Yu Darvish | Player | Gio Gonzalez |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
5.0 | IP | 5.0 |
7 | Strikeouts | 3 |
3 | Hits | 2 |
0.00 | ERA | 1.80 |
Chi. Cubs | Milwaukee | |
Ben Zobrist | Player | Christian Yelich |
1 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
1 | TB | 3 |
1.000 | Avg | 1.000 |