MILWAUKEE BREWERS

Brewers 7, Reds 0: Jesús Aguilar, Gio Gonzalez do the heavy lifting in much-needed romp

Tom Haudricourt
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar watches his home run during the third inning Wednesday night at Miller Park.

Jesús Aguilar assured there would not be another quiet offensive night for the Milwaukee Brewers. And left-hander Gio Gonzalez assured that even scant run support would do the trick.

Aguilar belted a three-run homer and drove in four runs, and Gonzalez tossed six shutout innings Wednesday night as the Brewers rolled to a 7-0 victory over Cincinnati at Miller Park, avoiding the specter of a losing home stand before heading on a huge trip to Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

The victory padded the Brewers' lead in the NL wild-card race to three games over second-place St. Louis, which lost earlier in the day to Atlanta. It also pulled them within three games of Chicago in the NL Central, pending the Cubs' late game in Arizona.

It was a much-needed romp after a quiet 3-1 loss to the Reds the previous night, which dropped the Brewers to 2-3 on the home stand. They moved to 87 victories, one more than last season.

BOX SCORE:Brewers 7, Reds 0

ANALYSIS:Having Gonzalez on their side instead of Harvey was a lift for Brewers

RELATED:Brewers' magic number

NOTES:Cain has to 'be smart' about rib cage strain, which means sitting for now

MLB:Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, statistics

Aguilar reached 100 RBI for the season in the first inning, and to the surprise of no one, it was set up by Christian Yelich. With one down, Yelich laced an opposite-field double to left-center off Matt Harvey, moved to third on a passed ball and scored when Aguilar bounced an infield hit up the middle.

It didn’t take long for Aguilar to boost his RBI total to 103. In his next at-bat in the third inning, he took a 1-0 fastball from Harvey the other way and out to right for a three-run homer, his 33rd blast of the season. That rally started with a leadoff walk to Gonzalez, never a good thing for the other pitcher.

Given that four-run lead, Gonzalez had to pitch out of a couple of jams in the early going to keep his team in control. The Reds put a squeeze play on in the second but Tucker Barnhart fouled off the bunt before striking out, and Gonzalez then whiffed Harvey, batting in the eight-hole.

Cincinnati put two on with one down in the fourth but again Gonzalez got through it, and cruised from there, retiring the last eight hitters he faced before exiting. He became the first Brewers starter to go six innings since Wade Miley on Sept. 4 in an 11-1 romp over Chicago.

The Brewers traded for Gonzalez on Aug. 31 after failing to make an earlier deal for Harvey, and on this night that worked out just fine. He allowed just two hits and two walks while logging five strikeouts.

Harvey settled down in the middle innings before the Brewers broke the game open in the sixth in an epic confrontation with catcher Manny Piña. After Domingo Santana tripled with one out, the Reds intentionally walked Mike Moustakas to get to Piña, who has struggled mightily (9 for 69 with runners in scoring position).

Staying alive by fouling off seven two-strike pitches, Piña worked the count to 3-2 and on the 13th pitch pounded a long three-run homer to left to make it 7-0.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

AGUILAR JOINS CENTURY CLUB: Aguilar became the fifth player in the NL to reach 100 RBI for the season, joining Chicago’s Javy Baéz (107 entering the night), Colorado’s Trevor Story (102), Cincinnati’s Eugenio Suárez (101) and Colorado’s Nolan Arenado (101). Travis Shaw led the Brewers with 101 RBI last season.

BATTING RACE RAGES ON: At the beginning of the night, Yelich was the NL leader with a .317 batting average, followed by Cincinnati’s Scooter Gennett at .316. Yelich went 2-for-4 to end the night with a .319 average. Gennett went 1 for 2 with two walks to finish at .317.

THE WALKING MAN: Shaw was having trouble coming up with hits in September, batting only .152 (5 for 33) in 15 games. But Shaw was showing a good eye at the plate, drawing 13 walks to compile a .396 on-base percentage.

SANTANA EARNS MORE AT-BATS: Santana started for the first time since June 12, before a two-month stay in the minors. Santana was batting .429 (6 for 14, two HRs), all as a pinch-hitter, since returning to the team on Sept. 1.

ONE-MAN GANG: Yelich is the only player in the majors with at least a .300 batting average, 30 home runs, 100 runs scored, 90 RBI and 20 stolen bases. He is only the third player in franchise history with 30 HRs and 20 steals in the same season, joining Ryan Braun (2009, 2011-’12) and Tommy Harper (1970).

RECORD

This year: 87-66

Last year: 81-72

ATTENDANCE

Wednesday: 33,443

This year: 2,718,737 (34,856 avg.)

Last year: 2,463,474 (31,583 avg.)

COMING UP

Thursday: Off.

Friday: Brewers at Pirates, 6:05 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Jhoulys Chacín (14-8, 3.54) vs. Pittsburgh RHP Ivan Nova (9-9, 4.07). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.