Brewers 8, Astros 2
George Kottaras hit for the cycle and Craig Counsell hit his first home run of the season as the Milwaukee Brewers cruised to an 8-2 victory over the host Houston Astros on Saturday.
Prince Fielder drove in a pair of runs to pull into a tie for the major league lead with 107 RBIs and Taylor Green plated his first career run for the Brewers, who maintained their 8 ½-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals atop the National League Central.
Chris Narveson (10-6) worked the first five innings, allowing two runs and four hits to earn the win for Milwaukee.
Fielder drove in a run with a groundout in the first before the Brewers broke it open in the middle innings, grabbing one in the fourth on Kottaras’ solo blast and two runs each in the fifth, sixth and seventh.
The 41-year-old Counsell, who at one point went 32 games without a hit this season and entered Saturday’s contest with a .197 slugging percentage, followed a leadoff triple by Kottaras in the sixth by taking the first pitch from Bud Norris (6-9) and lining it into the right field stands.
Needing a double for the cycle, Kottaras sent a blast to deep center in the top of the ninth that bounced off the warning track for a ground-rule double.