Aaron Hill finally got the results he was looking for on Saturday night. Big time.
Hill hit a grand slam in Milwaukee’s seven-run 10th inning for his third homer of the game as the Brewers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 13-7 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
Hill belted a two-run shot in the sixth and a tying solo shot in the eighth, helping Milwaukee erase a 6-2 deficit. The second baseman set career highs and matched franchise records with the three homers and seven RBIs.
Photo: AP
He hit six homers in 116 games with Arizona last season.
“We’ve been working hard,” said Hill, who extended his hitting streak to eight games. “I’ve been happy with my at-bats even when the results weren’t there. Coming off the bench last year, I had to find a way to simplify things.”
Pinch hitter Jonathan Villar added a two-run double in the 10th as the Brewers snapped the Reds’ three-game winning streak.
Jeremy Jeffress (1-0) got the win by pitching a scoreless ninth. Caleb Cotham (0-2) failed to record an out in the 10th and was charged with five runs and five hits, including Hill’s second career grand slam.
“We chipped away or Aaron chipped away,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. “I thought if we could get to the 10th with [Ryan] Braun and [Jonathan] Lucroy coming up, we had a chance.”
Cincinnati second baseman Brandon Phillips extended his homer streak to a career-high four games with a pair of solo shots. Billy Hamilton produced two runs with his speed, but the Reds’ shaky bullpen collapsed again.
“I can’t go to the well every day with the same guys,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “I didn’t want to use Cotham, but I wanted to take one shot with him. It didn’t work out.”
Phillips’ drive to left field in the third inning gave the Reds a 4-0 lead. He also homered in the 10th.
Cincinnati left-hander Brandon Finnegan allowed five runs, three earned, and seven hits in five-plus innings.
Finnegan helped himself with a second-inning RBI single, but he served up leadoff homers by Braun in the fourth and Lucroy in the sixth before Hill’s two-run shot knocked him out of the game.
Milwaukee’s Jimmy Nelson set season highs by allowing five earned runs and six overall in five innings.
Hamilton got the Reds off to a fast start in the first. He walked and stole second with one out. He swiped an uncovered third base with two outs, jumping up and scoring when catcher Lucroy’s throw was mishandled by late-arriving third baseman Hernan Perez.
Hamilton, running on the pitch, also scored from first base on Joey Votto’s single to left-center field in the fifth.
In other MLB action, it was:
‧ Dodgers 6, Blue Jays 2
‧ Giants 2, Padres 1 (13 innings)
‧ Cardinals 6, Pirates 4
‧ Cubs 8, Nationals 5
‧ Royals 7, Indians 0
‧ Phillies 4, Marlins 3
‧ Diamondbacks 4, Braves 2
‧ Yankees 8, Red Sox 2
‧ Rangers 10, Tigers 5
‧ Athletics 8, Orioles 4, Game 1
‧ Orioles 5, Athletics 2, Game 2
‧ Mariners 3, Astros 2,
10 innings
‧ White Sox 7, Twins 2
‧ Mets 6, Padres 3
‧ Rays 4, Angels 2
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but