Christian Yelich's homer powers Brewers to 8th straight win, beating Reds 3-2

CINCINNATI (AP) — Christian Yelich hit his fourth home run in six games and the Milwaukee Brewers extended their winning streak to eight games, beating the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 Monday night.

Yelich — named the National League Player of the Week earlier in the day — connected on a full-count slider from Brady Singer (6-4) and drove it 417 feet to straightaway center and off the batter's eye to put Milwaukee on top in the third inning.

Sal Frelick had a pair of hits for the Brewers, who have their longest winning streak since running off nine straight in August 2023.

Aaron Civale (1-1) picked up his first win of the season in his third start since missing nearly two months due to a strained left hamstring. The right-hander, who went 5 1/3 innings, rebounded after allowing two runs in the first and struck out five.

Trevor Megill retired Cincinnati in order in the ninth for his 12th save in 13 opportunities.

The Reds took a 2-0 lead in the first on RBI base hits by Elly De La Cruz and Spencer Steer.

The Brewers responded with a pair in the second after loading the bases. Joey Ortiz drew a walk to score Sal Frelick and Brice Turang's sacrifice fly plated Andrew Monasterio.

The Reds had runners on first and second with one out in the sixth inning, but Milwaukee left-hander Rob Zastryzny struck out Jose Trevino and got pinch-hitter Santiago Espinal to ground out. Zastryzny was acquired in a trade with the Yankees on May 16. He was with the Brewers last season and went 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in nine appearances. He hasn't allowed a run in seven appearances this year.

Yelich is batting .450 during his nine-game hitting streak. He has gone 18 for 40 with six homers and 14 RBIs.

Milwaukee right-hander Freddy Peralta (5-3, 2.77 ERA) has the eighth-lowest ERA in the NL. Cincinnati will go with RHP Hunter Greene (4-3, 2.63 ERA).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Milwaukee Brewers' Christian Yelich (22) celebrates with teammates after hitting a solo home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, June 2, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Brady Singer throws during the third inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Monday, June 2, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Cincinnati Reds' Elly De La Cruz hits an RBI single during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Monday, June 2, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Aaron Civale throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, June 2, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Milwaukee Brewers' Christian Yelich watches his solo home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, June 2, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Shreyas Iyer was provisionally named in India’s squad on Saturday for the home one-day international series against New Zealand starting Jan. 11.

India will host the Black Caps in a white-ball engagement — three ODIs and five T20s — in the build-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Iyer returns to the international fold after sustaining a spleen injury during an ODI against Australia in Sydney last October.

His selection is subject to fitness clearance from BCCI’s medical team and he will return as India’s vice-captain for the three-match series.

Skipper Shubman Gill also returns, after he missed the ODI series against South Africa in December. He had a neck spasm in the test series earlier, and subsequently played in the T20s against the Proteas.

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Verma missed out. Gaikwad had scored a maiden ODI hundred against South Africa in Visakhapatnam.

Rishabh Pant is retained as second keeper-batter behind Lokesh Rahul, who had stood in as captain against the Proteas.

Star batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had both participated in the domestic List A tournament — Vijay Hazare Trophy — and return to the international stage for the ODIs.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya is fit, but not sufficiently enough to bowl 10 overs in an ODI. Thus, he has been rested further ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup (in India and Sri Lanka) starting Feb. 7. Nitish Kumar Reddy is included in the squad.

Pacer Mohammed Siraj returns to lead the bowling lineup with Jasprit Bumrah rested again. Siraj had missed the South Africa series because of workload management.

The three ODIs will be played in Vadodara (Jan. 11), Rajkot (Jan. 14) and Indore (Jan. 18), with the five-match T20 series starting Jan. 21.

Squad: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

FILE - Captain of Punjab Kings Shreyas Iyer addresses a news conference on the eve of the final match of Indian Premier League at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)