MILWAUKEE (Interstat) — Joey Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to break a tie and lift the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night at American Family Field.

The Brewers extended their winning streak over the Reds to four games, improving to 51-31 while dropping Cincinnati to 39-44. Milwaukee won the teams’ three-game series last week in Cincinnati by scores of 6-5, 2-0 and 2-1 in 10 innings.

Monday’s game drew an announced crowd of 28,059 and was completed in 2 hours, 52 minutes.

Cincinnati struck first in the top of the first inning against Brewers starter Robert Gasser. After the first two batters struck out, Spencer Steer singled to right field. JJ Bleday walked, and Dane Myers followed with a ground-rule double to left that scored Steer and sent Bleday to third. But Gasser struck out Noelvi Marte to limit the damage to one run.

The Reds added two more runs in the fifth. With one out, Edwin Arroyo singled to center. Elly De La Cruz then launched his 13th home run of the season to left-center field, making it 3-0. De La Cruz finished 1-for-5 with two RBIs.

Milwaukee’s offense was held in check by Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo through five innings. Lodolo allowed only one hit, a double by Sal Frelick in the second, and struck out four over five scoreless frames. He threw 69 pitches, 46 for strikes.

The Brewers finally broke through in the sixth against Reds reliever Chase Petty. Andrew Vaughn led off with a double that deflected off third baseman Sal Stewart. Christian Yelich walked, and Jake Bauers singled to left, scoring Vaughn and sending Yelich to third. Sal Frelick walked on a wild pitch that allowed Yelich to score, cutting the Cincinnati lead to 3-2. David Hamilton flew out to center, advancing Bauers to third, but Joey Ortiz struck out to end the inning.

Milwaukee tied the game in the seventh against reliever Sam Moll. Brice Turang led off with a solo home run to center field, his 12th of the season, making the score 3-3. William Contreras grounded out, and Andrew Vaughn singled to second before Yelich struck out.

The decisive moment came in the bottom of the eighth. With Moll still on the mound, Jake Bauers flew out. Sal Frelick singled to left. Hamilton sacrificed Frelick to second. Ortiz then drove a 2-1 pitch from Moll over the center-field wall for his second home run of the season, scoring Frelick and giving the Brewers a 5-3 lead.

Aaron Ashby pitched a perfect eighth inning for Milwaukee, striking out one, to earn the win. Ashby improved to 11-1 on the season.

Trevor Megill worked the ninth, striking out two and allowing no hits to record his 11th save.

Moll took the loss, falling to 1-6. He pitched one inning, allowing one hit and one earned run with one strikeout.

Cincinnati threatened in the eighth when Noelvi Marte singled and reached second on a throwing error by Ortiz, but Tyler Stephenson grounded out to end the inning. The Reds went down in order in the ninth against Megill, with Matt McLain striking out on a foul tip, Arroyo popping out and De La Cruz striking out swinging.

Gasser started for Milwaukee and worked 5 2-3 innings, allowing seven hits and three earned runs while striking out five. Chad Patrick followed with 1 1-3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two.

For Cincinnati, Lodolo’s strong outing was wasted. He allowed one hit and no runs over five innings with four strikeouts.

Offensively, Vaughn had two hits in three at-bats for Milwaukee, including a double. Turang homered, and Frelick doubled and singled. For Cincinnati, De La Cruz homered and drove in two, while Myers doubled and drove in one. Tyler Stephenson doubled in the second inning but was left stranded.

The Reds had nine hits to Milwaukee’s seven, but the Brewers capitalized on timely hitting and a pivotal error in the eighth.

Cincinnati’s next game is Tuesday at Milwaukee, the second of a four-game series. The Reds return home Friday to host the Baltimore Orioles. Milwaukee will also host the Reds on Wednesday and Thursday before traveling to Arizona for a weekend series.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of Milwaukee 6, Cincinnati 5. Interstat’s ELO system gave Milwaukee a 67.60 percent probability to win. Milwaukee was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5.