Cain homer closes out wild 24 hours
CINCINNATI — After a long night followed by a full day under the sun, Lorenzo Cain just wanted the game to end.
With the Brewers winning, of course.
Cain did his part, hitting a home run off the top of the left field fence in the 11th inning that lifted the Brewers over the Reds 2-1 Thursday.
NL batting leader Christian Yelich went 0-for-4 with a basesloaded walk for the Brewers. On Wednesday night, he went 6for-6 and hit for the cycle as the Brewers outlasted the Reds 13-12
Angels: Shohei Ohtani is a two-way player again. Manager Mike Scioscia announced the Japanese rookie sensation will start Sunday night for the first time since spraining the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow nearly three months ago. Ohtani will make his return on national television against the defending World Series champion Astros. Ohtani was excellent over nine starts before getting hurt, going 4-1 with a 3.10 ERA.
Yankees: Giancarlo Stanton joined the 300-home run club, connecting for a two-run drive in the third inning off the Tigers’ Francisco Liriano. Stanton ended a 10-game homerless drought and became the 147th player to in 10 innings. That’s 21 innings in less than 24 hours.
“It’s been tough on the body, this series,” Cain said. “When I hit it, I knew it was a double for sure, but this is Cincinnati, so you never know.”
The playoff-contending Brewers totaled just six hits in their latest victory. Cain hit the first pitch from Austin Brice (2-3), and the ball hit the wall and bounced over for his 10th home run.
“We got there a little different way today,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It was a polar opposite from yesterday. It was hard to tell we were playing by the same rules.” reach the mark, 11 of them active. He did it in 1,119 games, making him the fifth-fastest to hit the milestone behind Ralph Kiner, Ryan Howard, Juan Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez.
Astros: Manager A.J. Hinch was rewarded with a new contract that extends his run in the dugout through the 2022 season. Hinch’s contract had been set to expire after this year.
Indians: Jason Kipnis hit a three-run homer that broke a sixth-inning tie and sent the Indians over the Twins 5-3. The AL Central leaders opened a 14-game lead over the secondplace Twins. The Indians are 31-11 against division opponents. They needed this win to beat the
Brice, recalled from Triple-A Louisville before the game, left with what Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said was an irregular heartbeat.
“I’ve had some stuff go on,” Brice said. “I’ve had it checked out. It always comes up negative. It’s always like an electrolyte imbalance.”
The Brewers have homered in 22 straight games at Great American Ball Park. It’s the longest streak by any team at the stadium, including the Reds.
Joakim Soria (1-0) struck out two in a scoreless 10th to get the win. Josh Hader pitched the 11th for his 11th save. Twins 10-9 in the season series. Mike Clevinger (10-7) allowed two unearned runs in 62⁄ innings, striking out nine and giving up four hits.
Red Sox: Manager Alex Cora said he isn’t sure when David Price will make his next start after the left-hander was hit by a line drive. Price was struck on his left wrist in the third inning of Wednesday night’s 14-6 victory against Miami at Fenway Park. Price visited a hand specialist Thursday, and Cora said he is fine, but he doesn’t know if he’ll take his next turn in the rotation next week in Atlanta. “We’ll see how he feels the next few days and then we’ll go from there,” Cora said.