Second cycle vs. Reds gives Yelish record
Christian MILWAUKEE —
Yelich cycled his way into the record book.
Milwaukee’s streaking slug- ger became the first major leaguer to hit for the cycle twice in one season against the same team, driving in four runs to lead the Brew- ers over the Cincinnati Reds 8-0 Monday night.
“There’s been so many great players to play this game,” said Yelich, acquired in an offseason trade with Miami. “It just shows how freaky, I guess, that is. A lot of luck goes into that. It’s hard enough to get four hits in a Major League Baseball game, yet alone have them all be the right ones and the right sequence.”
Less than three weeks after his cycle in Cincinnati, Yelich accomplished the feat against the last-place Reds again to help the Brewers in their playoff pursuit. Milwaukee remained 2½ games behind the first-place Cubs in the NL Central and three games up in the wild-card race.
Yelich singled in the first inning, doubled in the second, launched a two-run homer in the fifth and completed the cycle when he added a two-run triple in the sixth. With the Brewers’ big lead, he was lifted for a pinch hitter in the eighth.
Yelich’s huge second half has turned him into a contender for the NL MVP. He also hit for the cycle when he went 6 for 6 in a 13-12 comeback victory on Aug. 29 at Cincinnati, making him the fifth player to turn the trick twice in one season — and first in Brewers history.
“There’s no question that he’s hot right now,” Reds starter Anthony DeSclafani sai d . “I know him from Miami. I know that he works his butt off. They all projected that he was going to be a top-of-the-league hitter. But I think if I make my pitches, I give myself a chance to get him out.”
The previous player with two cycles in one season was Aaron Hill in 2012.
Yelich put the Brewers up 4-0 in the fifth, following a walk to Curtis Granderson with his 31st homer.
Domingo Santana, who hit 30 homers last year for the Brewers but spent most of this season at Triple-A, opened the fifth with his second pinch-hit home run in two games.
Wade Miley (5-2) labored through five innings and allowed five hits. He had two runners aboard in the second, third and fourth. Josh Hader struck out the side in the sixth, and Brandon Woodruff finished for his first save.
“I didn’t say much, but I told (manager Craig) Counsell, I’m good, I can go back out,” said Miley, who has permitted two earned runs or fewer in seven straight starts. “Obviously, you’ve got Hader in the bullpen. Anybody will hand the ball over to Hader.”
DeSclafani (7-6) gave up four runs and seven hits with two walks in five innings.
Milwaukee made it 8-0 in the sixth, capped by Yelich’s two-run triple.