Christian Yelich doubled during a three-run rally for his 100th RBI as the Milwaukee Brewers moved a step closer to the NL Central title with a 5-2 victory to complete a three-game sweep of the visiting Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.
The Brewers snapped a 2-2 tie with three runs in the seventh. Jackson Chourio opened with a ground-rule double off Luis Garcia (2-2), who came out of the bullpen to start the inning. Brice Turang singled in the go-ahead run, William Contreras walked and Yelich doubled to reach 100 RBI for the first time since 2018 and just the second time in his career. Andrew Vaughn’s sacrifice fly pushed the lead to 5-2.
Aaron Ashby (4-2) got the win with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Abner Uribe tossed a scoreless eighth and Jared Koenig finished for his second save, as the Angels (69-84) dropped their seventh straight.
Milwaukee (94-59), which has clinched a playoff berth and has the best overall record in baseball, increased its division lead to six games over the Cubs, who lost 1-0 at Cincinnati earlier in the day.
The Brewers reduced their magic number to four for their fourth division title in five seasons. Milwaukee moved three games ahead of idle Philadelphia for the best record in the National League.
Milwaukee tied the game at 2 on Caleb Durbin’s RBI single in the sixth.
The Angels had runners on second and third with two outs in the seventh, but center fielder Blake Perkins made a long running catch to haul in Chris Taylor’s drive to the warning track to prevent two runs.
Brewers starter Quinn Priester, who had won a franchise-record 12 consecutive decisions, retired the first 12 hitters before Jo Adell walked to open the fifth inning. Luis Rengifo then sent a 2-1 pitch 386 feet to right-center for his ninth homer to put the Angels up 2-1.
Priester allowed two runs on three hits over 5 2/3 innings, striking out 10 and walking two.
Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi allowed two runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings with three walks and two strikeouts.
The Brewers snapped a scoreless tie with a run in the fourth. Vaughn doubled, advanced on a ground out and scored on Durbin’s infield single.
