Page 21 - ARUBA TODAY

A21
SPORTS Tuesday 2 OcTOber 2018
Yelich, Brewers beat Cubs 3-1 for NL Central title

By JAY COHEN for his 12th save.
AP Sports Writer Rizzo had one last chance
CHICAGO (AP) — Chris- for Chicago, but he flied to
tian Yelich's easy smile and right with Baez on second
champagne-soaked T-shirt for the final out . When it
said it all. was over, Hader wrapped
A division title is much more his arms around catcher
fun than a Triple Crown. Erik Kratz as the rest of the
Yelich collected three more Brewers poured out of the
hits as the Milwaukee Brew- dugout.
ers won their first NL Central A sizable portion of Mil-
title since 2011, beating the waukee fans in the crowd
Chicago Cubs 3-1 on Mon- of 38,450 chanted "Let's go
day in a tiebreaker game. Brewers! Let's go Brewers!"
The silky-smooth slugger — a rarity at Wrigley over
stalled in his bid for the the past few years.
league's first Triple Crown "We could hear 'em, we
in decades, but he starred could really hear them and
once again as the Brew we fed off of that," Yelich
Crew captured the biggest said. "We wanted to bring
prize of the day. this home for them."
"I know how hard it is to get Yelich also heard repeat-
to this point and I'm proud ed "MVP!" chants when he
to be a part of this group," singled in each of his first
Yelich said as Milwaukee's three at-bats. He drove in
boozy party swirled around Arcia with his two-out hit in
him, filling every inch of the third.
the cramped visitors' club- Jhoulys Chacin sailed into
house at Wrigley Field. the fifth inning with the
Lorenzo Cain hit a go- lead, retiring 11 of his first
ahead single in the eighth 12 batters. But Rizzo led off
inning to help Milwaukee to with a massive drive to right
its eighth straight win and for his 25th homer, tying it 1.
home-field advantage The crowd roared as Rizzo
throughout the NL playoffs. rounded the bases and
The Brewers will host the then popped out of the
wild-card winner starting dugout for a curtain call.
Thursday in the best-of-five Chicago had a chance to
Division Series. Milwaukee Brewers players celebrate after defeating the Chicago Cubs 3-1 at the end of a tie- grab the lead in the sixth,
Chicago stays at Wrigley break baseball game on Monday, Oct. 1, 2018, in Chicago. but Joakim Soria escaped
for Tuesday night's wild- Associated Press the threat by striking out
card game against Colo- Baez with runners on first
rado. The Rockies lost 5-2 to homer counted in the to- mance for the Brewers. a pinch-hit double and and second.
the Los Angeles Dodgers in tals. "All the guys in the 'pen, Cain greeted Steve Cishek "That was the big moment,"
Monday's second tiebreak- Joe Medwick in 1937 was they're attacking the zone with a single back up the Counsell said.
er for the NL West title. the last NL player to win and putting us in a good middle. Chacin allowed one hit
"It's no fun. Of course we'd the Triple Crown. Miguel position to win ballgames," After Yelich struck out in 5 2/3 innings, setting up
prefer the other route," Cabrera did it for Detroit in Hader said. swinging — a rare occur- Milwaukee's bullpen quite
manager Joe Maddon 2012. Jose Quintana pitched six- rence during an extraordi- nicely. The right-hander
said. Milwaukee trailed Chi- hit ball into the sixth inning, nary stretch for the NL MVP struck out three and walked
It's a quick turnaround after cago by as many as five but Chicago's bullpen fal- favorite — Ryan Braun got two in another solid effort in
falling short in their bid for games in September, but tered at a key moment. the Brewers an insurance a career year.
a third straight division title, manager Craig Counsell's Rizzo, Baez and Daniel run with a run-scoring single Quintana kept the Cubs
but the Cubs will have ace club pushed the season Murphy accounted for the to center. in the game with another
left-hander Jon Lester on to an extra day with a furi- Cubs' three hits. It was more than enough stingy performance against
the mound for the elimina- ous finish and then used its The game was tied at 1 be- for Milwaukee's vaunted Milwaukee, allowing one
tion game. deep lineup and bullpen to fore Milwaukee opened the bullpen. Corey Knebel (4- run in five-plus innings. The
"We'll be ready. This team outlast the playoff-tested eighth with three straight 3) extended his scoreless left-hander is 4-1 with a 2.13
has responded all year," Cubs. hits. Arcia singled on a 0-2 streak to 16 1/3 innings with ERA in seven starts against
said Anthony Rizzo, who "It just shows the heart and pitch from Justin Wilson (4- a perfect seventh, and the Brewers this year.q
homered for Chicago's run. the mentality that this team 5), Domingo Santana had Hader worked two innings
Yelich singled home Mil- has," Cain said. "Never give
waukee's first run and won up. Continue to fight each
the NL batting title with a and every day in each and
.326 average. He had 110 every at-bat. We're going
RBIs, one behind the Cubs' to continue to do that in
Javier Baez, and finished the playoffs."
with 36 home runs, two Orlando Arcia, batting in
shy of Colorado's Nolan the eighth slot, had a ca-
Arenado. The tiebreakers reer-high four hits, and Josh
were game 163 of the reg- Hader closed out another
ular season and Arenado's dominant relief perfor-