Milwaukee Brewers' Keston Hiura celebrates after hitting a three-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Christian Yelich broke out of his slump with a home run and three hits, Ryan Braun also went deep and the Milwaukee Brewers romped to an 18-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Keston Hiura and Daniel Vogelbach also homered for the Brewers.

Well after the game was out of hand, both managers were ejected following a catcher’s interference call on Yadier Molina that led to a tense confrontation in front of the Brewers’ dugout.

Milwaukee jumped on St. Louis early, a night after the teams combined for only eight runs in splitting a doubleheader in which both games went to extra innings.

With St. Louis leading 1-0 in the first, Yelich and Braun hit back-to-back solo home runs off Jack Flaherty (3-2). Neither was hit particularly hard. And Flaherty, who had allowed two runs or fewer in five of his six previous starts, showed some dominance, as six of the first seven outs he recorded were strikeouts.

But Yelich, who singled, and Braun, who walked, hurt Flaherty again in the third inning. They scored on a double by Vogelbach, a designated hitter claimed off waivers Sept. 3.

The game broke loose in the fourth, after Flaherty gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases. There were still no outs when three runs crossed the plate, giving Milwaukee a 7-1 lead, and Flaherty was pulled.

Jake Woodford came on and gave up a three-run homer to Hiura that put Milwaukee up 11-1. The solo shot by Vogelbach came in the seventh, off Nabil Crismatt.

Milwaukee left-hander Brett Anderson (3-3), scratched from his last scheduled start on Sept. 12 because of a tight right hip, pitched five innings.

UP NEXT

A full slate of pitchers for today’s doubleheader had not been announced. St. Louis RHP Adam Wainwright (4-1, 2.91 ERA) will start the first game of the doubleheader.RHP Brandon Woodruff (2-3, 3.40) will start one of the games for Milwaukee.

Tigers 6, Royals 0

DETROIT (AP) — Miguel Cabrera hit a homer and a double to help Detroit beat Kansas City.

Matthew Boyd (2-6) bounced back from a rough outing with a strong performance, throwing five-plus scoreless innings and giving up just two hits. Boyd allowed seven runs over three-plus innings in his previous start as Milwaukee beat Detroit 19-0 last week.

Cubs 6, Indians 5

CHICAGO (AP) — Willson Contreras and Cameron Maybin were plunked by consecutive pitches from Cleveland reliever Nick Wittgren in the ninth inning, forcing home the winning run as the Chicago Cubs beat the Indians.

After Cleveland tied the game at 5 with two runs in the top of the ninth, left-hander Oliver Perez (1-1) allowed a one-out walk to Kris Bryant in the bottom of the inning. Anthony Rizzo followed with a single that advanced Bryant to third. Wittgren drilled Contreras with a 1-1 fastball, then hit Maybin with a bases-loaded changeup.

Trailing 5-3 in the ninth, Josh Naylor drew a leadoff walk from Cubs closer Jeremy Jeffress. One out later, Francisco Lindor hit a two-run shot to left to tie the game. It was his eighth of the season and the second blown save for Jeffress (4-1).

Javier Baez also homered for the Cubs, who increased their lead to five games in the NL Central.