Josh Donaldson and Christian Yelich homered as part of a 12-run second inning and the visiting Milwaukee Brewers routed the Miami Marlins 16-1 on Friday night and clinched a playoff berth.
The Brewers’ second inning featured nine hits, three walks and one steal. It was the second-biggest frame in Brewers history, topped only by a 13-run fifth inning against the Angels on July 8, 1990.
Yelich, who returned from a back injury and played just his second game since Sept. 9, went 3-for-4 with two home runs, five RBIs and four runs for the Brewers (88-66), who are closing in on their third National League Central title in the past six years. Their magic number to win the division is one.
Milwaukee has won 23 of its past 32 games.
Miami (79-75) fell one game behind the Chicago Cubs for the third and final NL wild-card playoff berth. The Marlins have lost three of their past four games.
The Marlins have also lost four of their past five games against the Brewers, with all of those contests played since Sept. 11.
Miami’s only good news was the return of second baseman Luis Arraez and third baseman Jake Burger. Arraez, who leads the majors with a .354 batting average, had missed two straight games due to a sprained left ankle. Burger, who has hit a career-high 33 homers this year, had left Wednesday’s game due to right quad tightness.
Brewers starter Corbin Burnes (10-8) reached double-figure wins for the third straight season. He allowed two hits, two walks and no runs in five innings. He struck out six.
Marlins reliever Steven Okert (3-2) took the loss, allowing four runs in two-thirds of an inning. But succeeding reliever Bryan Hoeing took the brunt of the pounding as he allowed 10 hits and nine runs in three innings.
Miami made three stellar defensive plays — two by Arraez and one by catcher Nick Fortes — to keep Milwaukee off the board in the first inning.
But nothing could stop the Brewers in the second frame as they got Donaldson’s two-run homer, William Contreras’ RBI single, Carlos Santana’s RBI double, Mark Canha’s two-run double, Sal Frelick’s RBI single, Donaldson’s RBI groundout, Brice Turang’s RBI single, Blake Perkins’ RBI double and Yelich’s two-run homer.
Yelich added a three-run shot in the sixth inning after Santana hit an RBI single in the fifth.
Jon Berti broke up the shutout when he led off the eighth inning with his fourth home run of the season off Milwaukee’s Bryse Wilson.
The Brewers sent position player Rowdy Tellez to the mound to pitch the ninth. Tellez had one strikeout and allowed one hit in his MLB pitching debut.
–Field Level Media
