Christian Yelich hit his 44th homer and Zach Davies pitched five effective innings for his first win since July, helping the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs 7-1 on Friday night.
Milwaukee pulled within four games of Chicago for the second NL wild card. The Cubs, who had won their last six road games, remained 2{ back of NL Central-leading St. Louis, which lost 9-4 at Pittsburgh.
Yelich had the big blow in the Brewers' four-run third inning, hitting a three-run drive to right-center. Cory Spangenberg added a run-scoring bunt single off Cole Hamels, giving Milwaukee a 4-1 lead.
Yelich's homer tied him with Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers, one behind NL leader Pete Alonso of the Mets.
Davies (9-7) allowed one run _ Nicholas Castellanos' 24th homer in the third _ and three hits in his first win since July 18. The right-hander went 0-5 with a 7.76 ERA in his previous six starts.
Davies almost picked up a win in his previous outing, but he was pulled after pitching 4 2/3 innings in the Brewers' 2-0 victory over the Cubs last weekend.
Brent Suter retired all six batters he faced, Junior Guerra pitched a scoreless eighth and Ray Black finished with a perfect ninth.
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Hamels (7-6) was tagged for five runs and nine hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Grandal made it 5-1 in the fourth with his 24th homer. Orlando Arcia added a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and Ben Gamel singled in a run in the eighth.
Castellanos' homer was his 13th in 33 games since he was acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline.
