CINCINNATI (AP) — Kolten Wong hit a career-high three homers and drove in five runs, helping Brandon Woodruff and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-1 on Thursday night.
Wong hit a two-run drive in the second inning against Hunter Greene. He hit another two-run shot in the sixth off Dauri Moreta and a solo drive in the eighth against Joel Kuhnel. Wong has 15 homers and 46 RBIs on the season.
Milwaukee finished with just four hits, but each of Wong’s first two homers occurred after leadoff walks.
The second-place Brewers (80-70) opened a four-game set against lowly Cincinnati with their second straight win. They are trying to catch Philadelphia and San Diego in the race for one of the NL’s last two wild cards.
Woodruff (12-4) struck out 11 in six innings. He allowed three hits and walked two.
The 6-foot-4 right-hander has 32 strikeouts in his last three starts — all wins.
Kyle Farmer hit his 13th homer in the sixth to account for Cincinnati’s only run. Greene (4-13) struck out eight in five innings.
The NL Central matchup drew a crowd of 9,889, the sixth under 10,000 this season at Great American Ball Park.
After throwing 47 pitches at least 100 miles per hour in a 1-0 loss at St. Louis on Saturday, Greene reached triple figures 15 times against Milwaukee, according to Statcast.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Brewers: RHP Freddie Peralta (right shoulder) might be activated this weekend, manager Craig Counsell said. Peralta has been out since May 23.
Reds: RHP Graham Ashcraft (right biceps soreness) is scheduled to come off the injured list on Saturday and make his first start since Aug. 19.
UP NEXT
The Brewers are expected to activate left-hander Eric Lauer (left elbow) from the injured list to start on Friday. Lauer has been out since Sept. 8. Lefty Mike Minor (4-12) pitches for Cincinnati.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports