Brewers settle Central stalemate
CHICAGO — Christian Yelich’s easy smile and champagne-soaked T-shirt said it all.
A division title is more fun than a Triple Crown.
Yelich collected three more hits as the Milwaukee Brewers won their first National League Central title since 2011, beating the Chicago Cubs 3-1 Monday in a tiebreaker game.
The smooth slugger stalled in his bid for the league’s first Triple Crown in decades but starred once again as the Brew Crew captured the day’s biggest prize.
“I know how hard it is to get to this point, and I’m proud to be a part of this group,” Yelich said as Milwaukee’s boozy party swirled around him in the cramped visitors’ clubhouse.
Lorenzo Cain hit a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning to help Milwaukee to its eighth straight win and home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs. The Brewers will host the wild-card winner starting Thursday in a best-of-five division series.
Chicago stays at Wrigley for Tuesday’s wildcard game against Colorado, which lost 5-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Monday’s tiebreaker for the NL West title.
It’s a quick turnaround after falling short in their bid for a third straight division title, but the Cubs will have ace lefthander Jon Lester on the mound for the elimination game.
“We’ll be ready,” said Anthony Rizzo, who homered for Chicago.
Yelich singled home Milwaukee’s first run and won the NL batting title with a .326 average. He had 110 RBIS, one behind the Cubs’ Javier Baez, and totaled 36 home runs, two shy of Colorado’s Nolan Arenado.
Milwaukee trailed Chicago by as many as five games in September, but manager Craig Counsell’s club pushed the season to an extra day with a furious finish and then used its deep lineup and bullpen to outlast the playoff-tested Cubs.
Orlando Arcia, batting in the eighth slot, had a career-high four hits, and Josh Hader closed out another dominant relief performance.
Jose Quintana pitched six-hit ball into the sixth, but Chicago’s bullpen faltered. Rizzo, Baez and Daniel Murphy accounted for the Cubs’ three hits.
The game was tied at 1 before Milwaukee opened the eighth with three straight hits. Arcia singled on an 0-and-2 pitch from Justin Wilson (4-5), Domingo Santana had a pinch-hit double, and Cain greeted Steve Cishek with a single up the middle.
After Yelich struck out swinging, Ryan Braun laced a run-scoring single to center.
It was more than enough for Milwaukee’s vaunted bullpen. Corey Knebel (4-3) extended his scoreless streak to 16⅓ innings with a perfect seventh, and Hader worked two innings for his 12th save.