Cleveland — Michael Harris II homered and doubled, Nacho Alvarez Jr. and Nick Allen each had three hits and the Atlanta Braves beat the Cleveland Guardians 10-1 on Saturday night.
The Braves have won four straight and eight or their last 10 games, both season highs.
The Guardians fell 8.5 games behind the Tigers in the American League Central. The Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 8-5 on Saturday night.
Ronald Acuña Jr. and Marcell Ozuna had two hits apiece for the Braves. Joey Wentz (4-3) allowed one run and three hits in six innings, striking out five.
The Braves struck first in the top of the second, as Alvarez drove in a run before Allen doubled in two.
Bryan Rocchio hit a solo homer in the third to bring the Guardians within two runs, but Atlanta answered with seven runs in the middle innings. Hunter Stratton pitched the final three innings for his first save.
Slade Cecconi (5-6) allowed eight runs (six earned) and 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Between the fourth and sixth innings, Atlanta extended their lead from 3-1 to 10-1, keyed by Harris’ two-run homer to right.
Harris extended his multi-hit streak to eight games, the longest in the majors this season and the longest for a Braves player since Chris Johnson had eight straight in 2013. Harris is batting .500 during the run, and eight of his 17 hits have gone for extra bases.
Brewers set franchise record
The Milwaukee Brewers set a single-season franchise record with their 14th straight victory Saturday. And, in keeping with recent form, it wasn’t easy.
The major league-leading Brewers rallied for the second straight game and beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-5 in 11 innings. This Milwaukee club set a new benchmark — so far — for consecutive victories, surpassing the 1987 team that opened that season by winning its first 13 games.
The Brewers will look to add to their streak in the series finale against division rival Cincinnati on Sunday.
Milwaukee’s overall record for consecutive wins is 16 games, from 1986-87, when they won their last three games in 1986 and their first 13 in 1987.
On Friday night, the Brewers’ run appeared to be in jeopardy before they rallied from seven runs down through two innings by scoring nine unanswered runs in beating the Reds 10-8.
Milwaukee looked to be in trouble again Saturday, but showed its resilience — for the second time in 24 hours — with the big blow being a pinch-hit, three-run homer in the 11th by Andrew Monasterio.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Monasterio, who wears the No. 14. “I wasn’t ready for like 14 to 14. … That’s amazing.”