CINCINNATI — 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 MLB-leading Brewers rallied for the second straight game and beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-5 in 11 innings. This Milwaukee club has set a new benchmark for consecutive victories, surpassing the 1987 team that opened that season by winning its first 13 games.
The Brewers (78-44), who have a nine-game lead over the second-place Chicago Cubs in the National League Central Division, will look to add to their streak in Sunday’s series finale against the third-place Reds, who are 15 games out.
In the NL, the Brewers are eight games better than the East-leading Philadelphia Phillies (70-53).
Milwaukee’s overall record for consecutive wins is 16, from 1986-87, when they won their last three games in one season and their first 13 in the next.
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 to beat 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 jersey. “I wasn’t ready for like 14 to 14. … That’s amazing.”
Monasterio was seemingly prepped for his showstopping and streak-extending moment.
“Pat Murphy asked me to be ready three or four times,” the 28-year-old infielder said of the Milwaukee manager. “That was the fifth time he asked me to be ready during the game. He asked me in the seventh, ‘Are you ready for a big moment?’ I said, ‘Of course, yeah.’ But I didn’t know it was going to happen like this.”
Milwaukee starting pitcher Quinn Priester said his under-11 team in youth baseball went 49-0 and called that fun.
“But not as fun as this,” he said.
Priester said the Brewers have been making the most of every chance provided by opponents.
“We’ve just been giving ourselves every opportunity, and then certainly when we get extra opportunities, we seem to take advantage every single time,” he said. “You get your opportunity, it’s time to go in and make a big swing, make a big pitch. When guys are getting their opportunities, we’re not timid, that’s for sure.”
The Brewers jumped to an early lead when Brice Turang doubled in a run in the second inning. The Reds got solo homers from Ke’Bryan Hayes and Spencer Steer in the sixth for a 2-1 lead.
As it turned out, the Reds helped Milwaukee keep its winning streak alive as the Brewers scored on a throwing error by Cincinnati shortstop Elly De La Cruz in the ninth to tie the game at 2. The Brewers went ahead in the 10th when Anthony Seigler scored on an error by left fielder Jake Fraley.
Cincinnati battled back in the bottom of the 10th and made it 3-all on an RBI double by Hayes.
Ultimately, the Reds provided the Brewers with too many chances to continue their winning ways as Monasterio belted a three-run shot in the 11th — just his second homer of the season after his first on July 3 against the New York Mets.
The Reds pushed back again in the bottom half, cutting the deficit with a sacrifice fly by Santiago Espinal and trimming their deficit to a run on Noelvi Marte’s ninth homer of the year.
However, Milwaukee prevailed when reliever Nick Mears got Matt McLain to fly out to the warning track in right-center field, ending the game and extending the streak.