Garrett Mitchell capped a 4-for-4 game with a tiebreaking triple in the seventh inning, leading the host Milwaukee Brewers past the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 on Wednesday night.

The Brewers won their third straight game to open a four-game series.

Noelvi Marte homered for the Reds, who took their fourth loss in a row.

Mitchell’s two-out triple into the left-center-field gap gave the Brewers a 3-2 lead. The hit scored Andrew Vaughn, who had doubled. Mitchell then scored on a wild pitch from Brock Burke (3-4).

Milwaukee reliever Aaron Ashby (12-1) increased his major-league-leading win total as he tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Closer Trevor Megill pitched around a double in the ninth for his 12th save.

Brewers starter Shane Drohan gave up two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings with a walk and seven strikeouts. He retired 11 in a row from the second to the fifth inning.

Reds starter Andrew Abbott allowed two runs and five hits in five innings with five walks and three strikeouts.

In the third inning, Cincinnati first baseman Spencer Speer made a pickup and flip with his glove to get Mitchell at the plate on a safety-squeeze bunt attempt by Cooper Pratt. Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy challenged the call, but the ruling was upheld.

Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz saved a run in the bottom of the second with a diving stop of William Contreras’ grounder up the middle. It came with runners on first and second and two out. The play wound up as an infield single, but De La Cruz’s stop forced Jackson Chourio, who was on second, to stop at third.

Abbott then struck out Jake Bauers with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Marte socked a two-run homer in the top of the second, his fifth of the season, to tie the game 2-2. The liner down the left field line snuck just inside the foul pole.

Milwaukee took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a run-scoring groundout by Contreras and a sacrifice fly by Bauers.

–Field Level Media

It took blood and sweat to produce tears of joy as the short-handed U.S. men’s national team moved to the World Cup’s round of 16 with a gritty 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif.

The USMNT’s first knockout-stage win in 24 years sets up a meeting with Belgium on Monday in Seattle with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.

Amid the postgame jubilation was the realization that leading scorer Folarin Balogun, who popped in his third goal of the tournament in the 45th minute, will miss the next match. The forward received a red card in the 64th minute on Wednesday, leaving the U.S. scrambling to defend a 1-0 lead.

They did and more when Malik Tillman scored from a free kick in the 82nd minute to seal the win. The result ended the United States’ 10-match losing streak to European teams and also marked the first time the U.S. won three matches in the same World Cup.

Tillman paused after the match to reflect on his wonder goal but also to look ahead to Belgium.

“We have to enjoy this moment now,” he said. “(Against Belgium), we want to go as fast possible, and it won’t be an easy game, but now we will analyze them, we will analyze our game and hopefully we keep going.”

In the post-match interview room, Tillman was in his socks with blood noticeable on the right sock by the big toe. He explained that in the second half, his right boot had been cut open and that shortly before the free kick he had to change footwear.

After a potential Christian Pulisic goal was disallowed in the 78th minute because he was offside, Tillman sent an overpowering shot up and over the wall from 21 yards to the upper left corner. The restart was set up when Sergino Dest drew a yellow card as Stjepan Radeljic grabbed his shirt.

“I know some guys doubted me to go over the wall, but I practiced this in training,” Tillman said. “You never know when it’s going to happen, but luckily today it happened and now I was ready for it. I was very confident, and now I’m happy it went in.”

Balogun gave the U.S. a 1-0 halftime lead with a wicked spin and shot from the top of the box. He followed a formula that worked in the first match against Paraguay when he had an early goal reversed because of an offside call before putting one on the scoreboard that stuck.

This time, he was offside in the 31st minute, but he would not be denied 14 minutes later.

The U.S. kept its defensive shape, pinning Bosnia and Herzegovina deep, resulting in a giveaway that led to the ball pinging off Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic.

Balogun ran onto the loose ball, stopped, turned to his left and fired in his third goal of the tournament.

A few minutes later in first-half stoppage time, Balogun pounded a shot off the crossbar from a pass by Sergino Dest.

The match took an ominous turn for the U.S. early in the second half when Balogun was issued a straight red card. When challenging for a header, his right foot landed on Muharemovic’s left ankle.

There was no foul called initially, but referee Raphael Claus reviewed the play and issued the red card.

When play resumed, the U.S. refused to back down while playing smart and composed for the most part.

“We had to dig deep for that one,” Pulisic said. “Obviously, I felt we put on such a good performance and didn’t deserve the red card. I mean, I didn’t see it, but it’s unfortunate. But for us to dig in deep like that and just to get another goal and to defend the way we did took a real team effort.”

Balogun became the first player to score and be red-carded in a World Cup knockout-phase match since France’s Zinedine Zidane tallied and was sent off in the 2006 championship match vs. Italy.

“For me, never was it a red card,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “… (After that,) I thought that is a moment that we need to be a team. We need to show that we are a team. I could see in the eyes of the players as a coach we are ready to go and to fight, and that’s amazing.”

–Field Level Media

Pushing for their first postseason appearance since 2020, the Athletics lost their leader and unofficial captain as manager Mark Kotsay announced on Wednesday that two-time All-Star Brent Rooker will undergo season-ending knee surgery.

Kotsay said that the 31-year-old designated hitter will have a procedure to address a cartilage tear in his left knee at a later date.

“This is a big blow,” Kotsay said. “It’s a middle-of-the-order bat. It’s a guy that produced for us offensively for the last three seasons with 30-plus homers. In terms of replacing Rook, there’s not one guy that is going to come in here and step in with that type of production. We’ll do our best to fill that void and make the best of the situation.”

Injuries this season have taken a toll on Rooker, who entered 2026 with 99 home runs over the previous three seasons, including a career-high 39 in 2024, when he also drove in a career-high 112 runs.

In April, he sustained a strained right oblique that kept him out for 15 games. Upon returning April 25, Rooker hit just .216 with a .709 OPS and eight homers in 36 games before the knee issue surfaced, sidelining him since the June 8 game. A cortisone shot on June 10 did not do the trick.

“There’s not one instance of the injury,” Kotsay said. “This could have been something that just over time continued to deteriorate. The cartilage in itself caused that bone bruise. That’s from a lack of cartilage in the knee. We tried the conservative measure of doing the injection. Obviously, with the baseball activity increasing, it just continued to be an issue.”

Rooker ends his season hitting just .200 with a .670 OPS, 10 home runs and 29 RBIs in 48 games.

The A’s will also miss Rooker’s presence and leadership, especially for the younger players who often turn to him for hitting tips. The slugger will not join the team on the road, but he is expected to be present and available to offer his expertise at home games.

“In terms of the leadership, that’s not going to change,” Kotsay said. “He’s still going to be a part of the group on a daily basis. When he has the surgery, he’ll be rehabbing here with the team so he can still provide that leadership.”

Joey Meneses, who was thriving at Triple-A Las Vegas before a recent call-up, is among the players likely to fill the DH spot.

Rooker began his major league career in 2020 with the Minnesota Twins, who selected him with the 35th overall pick in the 2017 draft. In 573 games with the Twins, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals and Athletics, Rooker is a .254 hitter with an .815 OPS, 119 home runs and 322 RBIs.

–Field Level Media