CHICAGO (AP) — Alex Bregman hit three of Chicago's franchise-record nine home runs and the Cubs punctuated their August power display with a 17-3 blowout of the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night.
Clay Holmes pitched six scoreless innings for the Cubs, who launched five homers off Milwaukee starter Kyle Harrison in the first four innings and three more against position player Andrew Vaughn late in the game.
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Chicago went back-to-back twice, in the first inning and the fourth.
The nine longballs matched the second-most by one team in a major league game, according to Sportradar. Toronto hit 10 during an 18-3 victory over Baltimore on Sept. 14, 1987.
Chicago finished August with 62 home runs, second-most by a big league club in a calendar month behind the 74 hit by the New York Yankees in August 2019.
Milwaukee holds a seven-game lead in the NL Central over the Cubs with six meetings remaining this season, including three more in this series at Wrigley Field.
Holmes (6-6) allowed five hits, striking out eight and walking two. He has given up only five runs in five starts since joining the Cubs in a trade-deadline deal with the New York Mets.
Bregman’s second three-homer game in three weeks gave him 23 on the year.
The nine home runs were also the most allowed by the Brewers this season.
Tyrone Taylor and Nico Hoerner hit back-to-back homers off Harrison in the first, and Bregman connected in the second. Seiya Suzuki and Bregman went back-to-back in the fourth, the Cubs’ eighth set of back-to-back homers this season.
Harrison (10-4) had permitted only two earned runs in 12 previous innings against the Cubs this year, but he gave up nine runs on 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings Monday as his season ERA spiked from 2.79 to 3.45.
Cooper Pratt hit a two-run homer for Milwaukee off Ryan Rolison in the seventh to break up Chicago's shutout bid. Carson Kelly answered in the bottom half when he connected off reliever DL Hall for his 10th of the season.
Vaughn, a first baseman, allowed seven runs and nine hits over two innings while throwing 45 mph knuckleballs. He served up homers to Matt Shaw, Michael Conforto and Bregman.
At the plate, Vaughn had an RBI single in the eighth.
Brewers LHP Robert Gasser (4-5, 4.59 ERA) starts Tuesday against Cubs LHP Matthew Boyd (8-3, 3.99).
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