Henderson, Yelich lead Brewers past Cubs for series sweep

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Christian Yelich hit a three-run homer, Logan Henderson threw five innings of two-hit ball and the Milwaukee Brewers completed a sweep of rival Chicago, holding on for an 8-6 victory Wednesday night to extend their NL Central lead to 10 games over the Cubs.

Jackson Chourio and William Contreras also homered for majors-leading Milwaukee (91-56).

The Cubs (81-66) scored five runs in the ninth, starting with four walks by Brandon Sproat. Abner Uribe relieved and gave up an RBI single, a run-scoring ground out and a two-run double by Michael Conforto to make it 8-6.

Henderson (10-3) retired the first nine before Pete Crow-Armstrong singled to open the fourth. Crow-Armstrong advanced on a passed ball, took third on a fly out, and scored the unearned run on a ground out to cut the deficit to 7-1.

Henderson allowed one unearned run on two hits, striking out six and walking one before exiting after Carson Kelly’s leadoff single in the sixth.

Kevin Gausman (9-12) allowed seven runs, six earned, on eight hits in four innings, including three home runs.

Yelich staked the Brewers to a 3-0 lead in the first with his 11th homer. Brice Turang reached on an infield force out and Contreras walked. Andrew Vaughn struck out, but Yelich sent an 0-1 pitch 372 feet to left-center.

The Brewers made it 6-0 in the second on home runs by Chourio and Contreras. Chourio’s one-out solo shot was his career-best 23rd. Turang walked and Contreras followed with his 15th homer, and 100th of his career.

Milwaukee capitalized on errors for unearned runs in the third and sixth.

Both the Cubs and Brewers are off Thursday. Shota Imanaga (9-10, 3.91 ERA) was set to starts for the Cubs on Friday at home against the Pirates, who had not named a starter. The Reds were going with Andrew Abbott (6-10, 4.43) on Friday at the Brewers, who had not named a starter.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb