Gavin Lux doubled twice to start two rallies as the visiting Cincinnati Reds pulled into a tie for the final National League wild-card spot with a 3-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.
Cincinnati (82-78) is now level with the New York Mets (82-78), who lost at Miami 6-2 on Friday, and the Reds hold the tiebreaker. The Arizona Diamondbacks (80-80) lost 7-5 to the San Diego Padres later Friday night and were eliminated from contention.
Milwaukee (96-64), which previously won the NL Central and clinched a first-round bye, has a magic number of one over Philadelphia (95-65) to secure the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage for the entire postseason. The NL East champion Phillies defeated the Minnesota Twins 3-1 on Friday.
The Reds broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the sixth inning off Brewers starter Quinn Priester thanks in part to a fortunate bounce.
Lux doubled to open the frame and continued to third on an error by left fielder Jake Bauers. Miguel Andujar followed with an RBI single to center. Elly De La Cruz appeared to bounce into a tailor-made double play, but the ball ricocheted off the bag at second for a single, putting runners at the corners and ending Priester’s night.
Tyler Stephenson’s sacrifice fly off Nick Mears made it 3-1.
Zack Littell and four Cincinnati relievers combined on a three-hitter. Littell allowed one run on three hits in 4 2/3 innings during an 85-pitch outing. He struck out three and walked two.
Reliever Connor Phillips (5-0) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Emilio Pagan tossed a perfect ninth for his 31st save in 37 opportunities.
Priester (13-3), who had won a franchise-record 12 consecutive decisions, gave up three runs on nine hits in five-plus innings. He fanned four and walked one.
The Brewers took a 1-0 lead in the third when Christian Yelich doubled and scored on Brice Turang’s two-out single to center.
The Reds answered in the fourth. Lux hit a leadoff double and took third on Andujar’s single. Spencer Steer’s one-out single scored Lux. Stephenson singled to load the bases, but Priester escaped further damage when Ke’Bryan Hayes bounced into an inning-ending double play.
–Field Level Media
