Sal Stewart homered and hit an RBI single, Miguel Andjuar went 3 for 5 and the Cincinnati Reds moved a step closer to their first postseason berth since 2020 by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 7-4 on Saturday night.
The Reds will earn the National League’s third and final wild-card playoff spot if they beat the Brewers or the New York Mets lose to the Miami Marlins on Sunday. A Reds loss and Mets win would send New York to the playoffs instead.
That third wild-card team will head to Los Angeles to begin a best-of-three matchup with the Dodgers on Tuesday.
Cincinnati and the Mets, who beat the Marlins 5-0 on Saturday, are both 83-78. The Reds own the head-to-head tiebreaker because they went 4-2 against the Mets this season.
Jackson Chourio homered for the Brewers, who clinched the best regular-season record in the majors and home-field advantage throughout the postseason thanks to the Philadelphia Phillies’ 5-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins.
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Cincinnati broke a scoreless tie with a six-run third inning that included four hits, two errors and a pair of walks.
Noelvi Marte led off by reaching on a throwing error by starter Robert Gasser (0-2). Marte advanced to third on Andujar’s double and scored on Stewart’s one-out single.
Cincinnati led 1-0 when Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski made his first major league relief appearance with the bases loaded and two outs.
Ke’Bryan Hayes greeted Misiorowski with an infield single on an 0-2 pitch. Misiorowski then walked Matt McLain. TJ Friedl singled home two runs, and McLain scored on the play as well due to left fielder Isaac Collins‘ throwing error.
Cincinnati starter Andrew Abbott (10-7) allowed three runs over 5 1/3 innings. Emilio Pagan, pitching for a fourth straight day, retired the side in order in the ninth for his 32nd save in 38 opportunities.
Pagán was just the second big league player to pitch on four consecutive days this season. Tyler Ferguson of the Athletics did it from May 3-6.
Key moment
Milwaukee got the deficit down to 7-4 and put the potential tying run on first base in the sixth before Joey Ortiz grounded out with the bases loaded to end the threat.
Key stat
Cincinnati ended the Brewers’ streak of 13 straight series victories over the Reds.
Up next
Brady Singer (14-11, 3.95 ERA) pitches for Cincinnati, and Freddy Peralta (17-6, 2.68) starts for Milwaukee on Sunday.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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