Cubs 17, Brewers 3: Franchise-Record 9 Homers, Bregman Hits Three

Nine balls left Wrigley. Three of them were Bregman's.

August 31, 2026 – Chicago – Alex Bregman hit the second, the fifth, and the ninth. The Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 17-3. Chicago 17/20/0. Milwaukee 3/9/1. Bregman hit three of Chicago's franchise-record nine home runs. ESPN's recap for gameId 401816754 says that explicitly, second-most by one team in a major league game behind Toronto's 10 on September 14, 1987.

Clay Holmes threw six innings, five hits, no runs, eight strikeouts. Kyle Harrison (10-4) took the loss: 3 2/3 innings, 10 hits, nine earned, five homers. His ERA jumped from 2.79 to 3.45.

Bregman's second three-homer game in three weeks gave him 23 on the year. He went 3-for-6 with four RBI.

Back-to-back, then back-to-back again

Tyrone Taylor started it. Two-run shot to left-center in the first, 419 feet, Seiya Suzuki aboard. Nico Hoerner went back-to-back, 393 feet. Carson Kelly singled Michael Busch home. 4-0 before Harrison recorded a second out in the first.

Bregman made it 6-0 in the second, a two-run drive to left (376 feet) with Suzuki on again. In the fourth they stacked another pair: Suzuki to center (408 feet), Bregman to left-center (395 feet) on the next sequence. That was Chicago's eighth set of back-to-back homers this season. Miguel Amaya walked in another run. 9-0 after four.

Harrison was done. Five of the nine homers came off him. Pete Crow-Armstrong had a quiet night at the plate and still scored later. The Cubs did not need their loudest name.

Holmes kept it a shutout until the seventh

Holmes (6-6) worked six innings, five hits, two walks, eight strikeouts, 101 pitches. He has allowed five runs in five starts since the Mets traded him to Chicago. Milwaukee's best looks were a Jackson Chourio double and a Contreras double. Nobody scored on him.

Cooper Pratt finally put Milwaukee on the board in the seventh, a two-run homer off Ryan Rolison that scored Lara. 9-2. Kelly answered in the bottom half, his 10th, 375 feet off DL Hall. Matt Shaw followed with a two-run shot off Andrew Vaughn (416 feet). Taylor singled Crow-Armstrong home. 13-2 after seven.

Vaughn, a first baseman, threw the seventh and eighth. ESPN had him at 45 mph knuckleballs, two innings, nine hits, seven runs, three homers. That is how a 9-2 game becomes 17-3.

The eighth was a souvenir night

Vaughn singled Chourio home in the top of the eighth. 13-3. Then Michael Conforto hit a three-run homer to right (400 feet). Bregman hit the last one, 397 feet to left-center, his third of the night. 17-3.

The nine homers, in order: Taylor, Hoerner, Bregman, Suzuki, Bregman, Kelly, Shaw, Conforto, Bregman. Chicago finished August with 62 home runs, second-most by a club in a calendar month behind the 2019 Yankees (74). ESPN noted Bregman and Crow-Armstrong each hit 12 in August, the third teammate pair in history to do that in a calendar month.

Milwaukee still leads the NL Central by seven with six meetings left, three more in this series. The Brewers allowed nine homers in one night, their season high. Using Vaughn for two innings made the final look silly. The first four innings, with a real starter on the mound, were already 9-0.

The card, without dressing it up

Chicago's nine homers, in order of the box: Taylor (419 feet, two-run), Hoerner (393, solo), Bregman (376, two-run), Suzuki (408, solo), Bregman (395, solo), Kelly (375, solo), Shaw (416, two-run), Conforto (400, three-run), Bregman (397, solo). That is not a flurry. That is a lineup taking batting practice in a real game.

Harrison's game score was 6. Vaughn's ERA for the night sat at 30.00 because two innings of 45 mph knuckleballs will do that. Holmes's game score was 68. The starter who did his job got a 17-run cushion and still needed it less than the box suggests. Milwaukee's only extra-base answers were doubles from Contreras, Chourio, and Lara, plus Pratt's homer.

Chicago went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position and still scored 17. When you hit nine homers, you do not need the small-ball inning. The Brewers went 2-for-8 with traffic and left six on.

What's next

Robert Gasser (4-5, 4.59) faces Matthew Boyd (8-3, 3.99) on Tuesday. Chicago just set a franchise home-run record and still sits seven back. Milwaukee has to get a starter through four innings without five baseballs leaving the yard. Three more games in this series will tell you whether Monday was a blip or a warning.

Bregman's page and the rest of this Cubs order live on the AthX marketplace if you want the next look.

*Sources: ESPN box score, ESPN recap, MLB Gameday, MLB schedule. Information only; not financial advice.*