Record night at Wrigley
Alex Bregman went deep three times as the Chicago Cubs smashed a franchise-record nine home runs in a 17-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field on Monday night. The Cubs hit five homers against Brewers starter Kyle Harrison within the first four innings, including two sets of back-to-back blasts, and added three more off position player Andrew Vaughn in the late innings.[S1]
The nine homers tied for the second-most in a single game by one team in MLB history, per Sportradar, with only Toronto's 10 in an 18-3 win over Baltimore on Sept. 14, 1987, ahead. Chicago's August total of 62 home runs ranks second all-time for a calendar month, trailing the New York Yankees' 74 in August 2019.[S1]
Bregman's power display
Bregman's three-homer game was his second in three weeks, giving him 23 for the season. He connected in the second inning, then went back-to-back with Seiya Suzuki in the fourth. Tyrone Taylor and Nico Hoerner also hit back-to-back homers off Harrison in the first inning, marking the Cubs' eighth set of back-to-back homers this season.[S1]
Clay Holmes tossed six shutout innings for the Cubs, giving up five hits while fanning eight and walking two. Since joining Chicago via a trade-deadline deal with the Mets, he has allowed just five runs in five starts. Harrison, who had permitted only two earned runs in 12 prior innings against the Cubs this year, was tagged for nine runs on 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings, hiking his ERA from 2.79 to 3.45.[S1]
Brewers' struggles and playoff implications
Cooper Pratt's two-run homer off Ryan Rolison in the seventh ended Chicago's shutout bid, but Carson Kelly answered with his 10th longball in the bottom half. Vaughn, a first baseman, surrendered seven runs and nine hits over two innings while tossing 45 mph knuckleballs, giving up homers to Matt Shaw, Michael Conforto, and Bregman. He also drove in a run with a single in the eighth.[S1]
Milwaukee still leads the NL Central by seven games over the Cubs, with six matchups left between the clubs, including three more in this series. Chicago holds a comfortable five-game edge over Arizona and San Diego for the top wild-card spot. The nine homers were the most the Brewers have allowed in a game this season.[S1][S2]
