Yelich homers twice, Brewers beat Pirates 9-7

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Christian Yelich hit two home runs and took over the major league lead with 39, powering the Milwaukee Brewers to a 9-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.

Yelich homered in the first inning for the second straight game. The first of his four hits came on a sinker by Dario Agrazal (2-3), and he sent it 408 feet into the bleachers in left. He also hit a solo homer in the first inning against the Cubs on Sunday. In the ninth inning, Yelich crushed a slider from Geoff Hartlieb 425 feet onto the river walk beyond right field to make the score 9-6.

It was Yelich's sixth career multi-homer game, and his fourth this season.

Brewers starter Jordan Lyles (7-7) limited his former team to three runs (one earned) on two hits in five innings in his first start against the Pirates since being traded on July 29.

Lyles walked two and didn't allow a hit through the first three innings. Bryan Reynolds led off the fourth with the 10th homer of his rookie season, cutting Milwaukee's lead to 5-1. Pablo Reyes hit a two-run, pinch-hit homer to left off Lyles in the fifth to make it 5-3.

In his last outing for the Pirates, Lyles allowed eight runs (five earned) on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings of a 14-8 loss to St. Louis on July 24. He was 5-7 with a 5.36 ERA for Pittsburgh this season.

The Brewers snapped a four-game losing streak and entered as losers of six of the last seven games.

The Pirates are last in the NL Central after falling to 4-19 since the All-Star break.

Brewers closer Josh Hader got the final four outs for his 25th save. He struck out two before giving up a two-out double to Reynolds and a triple to Starling Marte as the Pirates closed to 9-7 in the ninth.

Agrazal lost a third straight start for Pittsburgh, lasting five innings while allowing five runs on eight hits. Four runs came in the fourth, including one on a homer from Mike Moustakas, his 27th, that put the Brewers ahead 2-0.