Brewers 9, Astros 5: Corey Hart hit a pair of home runs and had four RBIs, Aramis Ramirez also went deep among his three hits and Marco Estrada struck out 11 over eight scoreless innings as Milwaukee kept its razor-thin playoff hopes alive.
Norichika Aoki added three hits and two RBIs and scored two runs for the Brewers, who are four games behind St. Louis for the final wild card and will be eliminated with one more loss or one Cardinals' win. St. Louis dropped a 6-4 decision in 10 innings to Washington on Saturday.
Estrada (5-7) allowed just four hits and one walk in winning for the third time in four starts. Fernando Martinez broke up the shutout with a two-run homer off Livan Hernandez in the ninth inning before Brian Bogusevic added a two-run blast and Tyler Greene contributed a solo shot.
Ramirez and Hart hit back-to-back homers in the second as the Brewers staked Estrada to a 4-0 lead. Hart added a three-run shot in the third for the 14th multi-homer game of his career and his third this season. He has 30 home runs, one shy of his career high in 2010.
Astros starter Dallas Keuchel (3-8) was charged with seven runs on eight hits in 2 1/3 innings in his final start of the season. He surrendered all three Milwaukee homers.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Astros' 106th loss matches last season's total for the most in franchise history. … Aoki tied a franchise record with his 18th extra-base hit of September. … Estrada recorded the fourth double-digit strikeout game of his career.
Houston | Milwaukee | |
Dallas Keuchel | Player | Marco Estrada |
Loss | W/L | Win |
2.1 | IP | 8.0 |
2 | Strikeouts | 11 |
8 | Hits | 4 |
27.00 | ERA | 0.00 |
Houston | Milwaukee | |
Scott Moore | Player | Aramis Ramirez |
2 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 1 |
2 | TB | 6 |
.500 | Avg | .750 |