Chourio, Yelich lift Brewers over Blue Jays with back-to-back ninth inning homers

TORONTO - Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich had back-to-back home runs in the ninth inning as the Milwaukee Brewers edged the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Isaac Collins added a third run with an RBI double four batters later as Milwaukee (85-52) won its second consecutive game in Toronto. Sal Frelick's groundout gave Yelich enough time to score in the seventh to tie the game 1-1.

Quinn Priester allowed one unearned run over six innings, striking out three but giving up five hits. Relievers Jared Koenig, Nick Mears, Aaron Ashby and Abner Uribe came on for the Brewers, with Ashby earning the win as the pitcher of record when Chourio and Yelich hit their homers.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., had a sacrifice fly in the sixth to give Toronto (78-58) a short-lived lead.

Kevin Gausman earned a no decision after he struck out eight, allowing just one run on four hits over seven innings.

Seranthony Dominguez, Jeff Hoffman and Yariel Rodriguez came out of the Blue Jays bullpen, with Hoffman coughing up the three ninth-inning runs.

Takeaways

Brewers: Milwaukee has built its lead atop the National League by having a so-called pesky offence that continues to chip away at its opponents' pitching. Although Gausman limited them to one run -- in part thanks to Toronto's excellent defence -- the Brewers got to the home team's relievers.

Blue Jays: Gausman needed to go deep to try and help Toronto's bullpen to rest. Although he earned a quality start by going seven innings of one-run ball, the Blue Jays' struggling bullpen still wasn't ready to take over the game. Although Dominguez pitched a clean eighth inning, Hoffman continued to struggle, getting roundly booed by the sold-out Rogers Centre crowd of 41,424 fans as he gave up Collins's RBI double.

Key moment

Chourio, fresh off Milwaukee's injured list, seemed to have a home run in the first inning but Myles Straw caught the ball just over the centre-field wall to rob the Brewers' centre-fielder.

Key stat

Bo Bichette extended his hit streak to 14 games with a single up the middle in the ninth inning. It's the longest of his career.

Up next

Max Scherzer (5-2) gets the start for Toronto in the series finale.

Brandon Woodruff (5-1) is scheduled to take the mound for Milwaukee.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 30, 2025.