MILWAUKEE (AP) — Joey Ortiz and William Contreras each drove in two runs, and the Milwaukee Brewers moved a step closer to clinching the NL Central title by beating the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies 6-2 on Monday night.
The Brewers' magic number is down to two as they seek their third division championship in the last four years. Milwaukee can wrap it up Tuesday night with a win and a Chicago Cubs loss to Oakland.
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Milwaukee Brewers' William Contreras reacts after hitting a two-run scoring double during the third inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' William Contreras reacts after hitting a two-run scoring double during the third inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber hits an RBI single during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz hits an RBI triple during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Blake Perkins and Jackson Chourio can't catch a home run hit by Philadelphia Phillies' Brandon Marsh during the fifth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Brice Turang hits an RBI single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz hits an RBI triple during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz reacts after hitting an RBI triple during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Brice Turang reacts after hitting an RBI single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Brewers starter Aaron Civale (9-8) scattered seven hits and struck out six while allowing one run and one walk in five innings.
“Anytime you're competing and playing meaningful games at the end of the year, it's awesome,” Civale said. “At this point, it's just trying to get everybody on the same page and trying to make as deep a run as you can.”
Colin Rea, normally a starter, made his fourth relief appearance of the season and worked 2 2/3 shutout innings for the 34-year-old's first career save. Brewers manager Pat Murphy said he asked if Rae would be willing to help out a bullpen that was short on available arms one night after an 11-10, 10-inning loss in Arizona.
“He goes, 'Absolutely,’” Murphy said. "That's the type of people that you're looking for to build a team when you're in a small market and had all the adversity we've had."
Rea became the 12th Brewers pitcher to get a save this season, setting a franchise record. The only team to have more was the 2021 Tampa Bay Rays with 14.
Rea never before had earned a save in the major leagues, minor leagues or even in his two stints pitching in Japan.
“I wasn't sure how long I was going to go, and you just kind of leave it all out there,” Rea said. “I feel like when I come out of the bullpen, that's the way it goes. There's just that extra adrenaline.”
Blake Perkins scored twice for the Brewers. Brandon Marsh homered for the Phillies.
Contreras opened the scoring with a two-run double that had a 115.6 mph exit velocity, the third-highest of his career. Contreras hit a sharp grounder off Ranger Suárez that rolled all the way to the wall in left-center to bring home Jackson Chourio and Perkins.
The Brewers extended the lead to 3-0 in the fourth. Rhys Hoskins drew a leadoff walk against his former team, advanced to third on Sal Frelick’s double and scored on Ortiz's sacrifice fly.
After Marsh put the Phillies on the scoreboard with a two-out homer in the fifth, the Brewers scored twice in the sixth to make it 5-1. Ortiz hit a two-out RBI triple and scored on Brice Turang’s single to left.
Suárez (12-7) went five innings and struck out five while giving up three runs, four hits and three walks. The left-hander remained in the game after jamming his right wrist while trying to field Turang's bunt in the fourth.
Philadelphia went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and couldn’t capitalize on opportunities to rally.
“We got enough hits to score some (more) runs," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “We had chances, but it just didn't happen.”
The Phillies ran themselves out of an inning in the third. Cal Stevenson attempted to advance from first to third on Trea Turner’s one-out single to right field, but Sal Frelick threw him out. Turner then got picked off attempting to steal second.
Kyle Schwarber and Turner opened the sixth with singles off Civale, but Hoby Milner came out of the bullpen and retired Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos and Alec Bohm in order.
The Phillies brought the potential tying run to the plate after Schwarber’s two-out RBI single in the seventh cut Milwaukee's lead to 5-2 and put runners on the corners, but Rea retired Turner on a fly to right.
Milwaukee extended its lead to 6-2 in the bottom half. Perkins singled, advanced to second on Contreras’ walk, reached third on a double steal and scored on Gary Sánchez's sacrifice fly.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Brewers RHP Nick Mears (forearm) and RHP Bryse Wilson (oblique) have bullpen sessions scheduled for Tuesday.
UP NEXT
RHP Zack Wheeler (15-6, 2.80 ERA) pitches for the Phillies and RHP Frankie Montas (7-10, 4.49) starts for the Brewers on Tuesday.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Milwaukee Brewers' William Contreras reacts after hitting a two-run scoring double during the third inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' William Contreras reacts after hitting a two-run scoring double during the third inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber hits an RBI single during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz hits an RBI triple during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Blake Perkins and Jackson Chourio can't catch a home run hit by Philadelphia Phillies' Brandon Marsh during the fifth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Brice Turang hits an RBI single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz hits an RBI triple during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz reacts after hitting an RBI triple during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' Brice Turang reacts after hitting an RBI single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — A 9-year-old was among five people killed when a Saudi doctor drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers in the German city of Magdeburg, an official said Saturday, as people mourned the victims and their shaken sense of security.
City official Ronni Krug said he didn’t have further information on the adults who were killed on Friday night. He said 200 people were injured, of whom 41 in serious or very serious condition.
Prosecutor Horst Nopens said the suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor, is under investigation on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm. He is currently being questioned. He has lived in Germany since 2006, practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg, officials said.
“There is no more peaceful and cheerful place than a Christmas market,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. “What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality.”
Neurosurgeon Mahmoud Elenbaby said some 80 patients were brought to Magdeburg’s university hospital on Friday night.
“We managed to stabilize most of them, but many are still in intensive care, and some are also in critical condition,” Elenbaby told The Associated Press as he dashed into the hospital cafeteria to buy himself a cola.
Several German media outlets identified the suspect as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws, and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Mourners lit candles and placed flowers outside a church near the market on the cold and gloomy day. Several people stopped and cried. A Berlin church choir whose members witnessed a previous Christmas market attack in 2016 sang Amazing Grace, a hymn about God's mercy, offering their prayers and solidarity with the victims.
There were still no answers Saturday as to what motivated the man to drive his black BMW into a crowd in the eastern German city.
Describing himself as a former Muslim, the suspect shared dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islam themes, criticizing the religion and congratulating Muslims who left the faith.
He also accused German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he said was the “Islamism of Europe.”
Nopens, the prosecutor, said the motive may have been “dissatisfaction with the treatment of Saudi refugees in Germany” but investigators are still trying to get to the bottom of what was behind the attack.
“He has at least talked about the motive,” Nopens said. “And we have to clear up how much of that is true.”
Investigators have to analyze computers, mobile devices and other evidence, “and at the end of the day we will know, or at least hope to know, what drove him to this act.”
“We have talked about an attack,” he said. “Whether it was a terror attack, we don’t know yet.”
The violence shocked Germany and the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that’s part of a centuries-old German tradition. It prompted several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss. Berlin kept its markets open but has increased its police presence at them.
Germany has suffered a string of extremist attacks in recent years, including a knife attack that killed three people and wounded eight at a festival in the western city of Solingen in August.
Those attacks have led cities to beef up security at Christmas markets and other events.
On Friday the suspect used a special escape and rescue route to enter the market, according to Tom-Oliver Langhans, director of the Magdeburg police.
Magdeburg is a city of about 240,000 people, west of Berlin, that serves as Saxony-Anhalt’s capital. Friday’s attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
Chancellor Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser traveled to Magdeburg on Saturday, and a memorial service is to take place in the city cathedral in the evening. Faeser ordered flags lowered to half-staff at federal buildings across the country.
Verified bystander footage distributed by the German news agency dpa showed the suspect’s arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road. A nearby police officer pointing a handgun at the man shouted at him as he lay prone, his head arched up slightly. Other officers swarmed around the suspect and took him into custody.
Thi Linh Chi Nguyen, a 34-year-old manicurist from Vietnam whose salon is located in a mall across from the Christmas market, was on the phone during a break when she heard loud bangs and thought at first they were fireworks. She then saw a car drive through the market at high speed. People screamed and a child was thrown into the air by the car.
Shaking as she described the horror of what she witnessed, she recalled seeing the car bursting out of the market and turning right onto Ernst-Reuter-Allee street and then coming to a standstill at the tram stop where the suspect was arrested.
The number of injured people was overwhelming.
“My husband and I helped them for two hours. He ran back home and grabbed as many blankets as he could find because they didn’t have enough to cover the injured people. And it was so cold," she said.
The market itself was still cordoned off Saturday with red-and-white tape and police vans every 50 meters (yards). Police with machine pistols guarded every entry to the market. Some thermal security blankets still lay on the street.
Christmas markets are a German holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages, now successfully exported to much of the Western world.
Moulson reported from Berlin and Gera from Warsaw, Poland.
Citizens pay tribute for deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Flowers and candles are placed outside St. John's Church as a memorial site near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Citizens pay tribute for deaths with flowers outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Citizens pay tribute for deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Citizens pay tribute for deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
A blanket lies on a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Policemen guard a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Policemen guard a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, centre, speaks at a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Citizens pay tribute to deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Citizens pay tribute and cry for deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
A policeman, right, stands on a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Citizens pay tribute to deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Two firefighters walk through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A damaged car sits with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Police stand at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, after a driver plowed into a group of people at the market late Friday. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Police stand at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, after a driver plowed into a group of people at the market late Friday. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
A damaged car sits with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Police officers and police emergency vehicles are seen at the Christmas market in Magdeburg after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A barrier tape and police vehicles are seen in front of the entrance to the Christmas market in Magdeburg after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Sebastian Kahnert/dpa via AP)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People mourn in front of St. John's Church for the victims of Friday's attack at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)
Police tape cordons-off a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer stands guard at at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Police officers patrol a cordoned-off area at a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, center, is flanked by Tamara Zieschang, Minister of the Interior and Sport of Saxony-Anhalt, left, and Simone Borris, Mayor of the City of Magdeburg, at a press conference after a car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Dörthe Hein/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer guards at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
In this screen grab image from video, special police forces attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Thomas Schulz/dpa via AP)
Reiner Haseloff (M, CDU), Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, makes a statement after an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer speaks with a man at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A policeman is seen at the Christmas market where an incident happened in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A firefighter walks through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A view of the cordoned-off Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Forensics work on a damaged car sitting with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
