Brewers beat Phillies, reduce magic number to two for NL Central title

The Brewers reduced their magic number to two with the win in the first of a three-game series at American Family Field on Monday night. Milwaukee, which also remains in contention for a first-round bye in the playoffs, pulled to within three games of the Phillies for the top spot and still trails the Dodgers by two games for the second position after Los Angeles’ 9-0 win over the Braves on Monday. The two division winners with the best records earn byes.

The Brewers broke through against Ranger Suárez (12-7) in the third. With one out, Jackson Chourio walked, Blake Perkins singled and Contreras followed with a double to drive in the pair.

Joey Ortiz’s sacrifice fly an inning later extended the lead to 3-0.

The Phillies got on the board in the fifth on a two-out solo homer by Brandon Marsh, his 16th of the season, off Civale.

Civale (7-8) departed after surrendering back-to-back singles to start the sixth. Hoby Milner came on to record three consecutive outs as the Brewers escaped the inning unscathed.

The Brewers tacked on two more in the sixth on Ortiz’s RBI triple and a run-scoring single by Brice Turang.

Kyle Schwarber drove in a run with a single off Colin Rea in the seventh to cut Milwaukee’s lead to 5-2. Gary Sánchez’s sacrifice fly in the Brewers half of the seventh pushed the Milwaukee margin back to four runs.

The Phillies’ top three hitters in the order — Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper — each had two hits, but none of them scored.

Rea completed the game to nail down the win, as well as the first save of his professional career.