BOSTON— Garrett Mitchell lined a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the stumbling Boston Red Sox 8-6 on Monday night, sending them to their eighth loss in nine games.

Christian Yelich had three hits and an RBI for the red-hot Brewers (8-2).

Willson Contreras hit a solo homer and reached base five times for the Red Sox (2-8).

Garrett Whitlock (0-1) walked two batters before Mitchell’s go-ahead hit. Left fielder Roman Anthony threw wildly to the plate, allowing a second run to score that made it 7-5.

Aaron Ashby (3-0) got four outs and Angel Zerpa worked the ninth for his first career save.

Contreras had words with Milwaukee starter Brandon Woodruff after getting hit by a pitch on the hand. Contreras then slid hard into second base, banging into David Hamilton’s left knee with his cleats and tearing his pants.

After a strange top of the fourth when Milwaukee grabbed a 4-3 edge, the Red Sox regained the lead with two unearned runs in the bottom half. Contreras had an RBI double, making it 5-4 after the tying run scored on Hamilton’s error at shortstop.

The Brewers scored four times without hitting a ball out of the infield to wipe out a 3-0 deficit with three infield singles, three walks and a fielding error by third baseman Caleb Durbin. The only hit that scored a run was a slow dribbler by Yelich.

Woodruff gave up five runs, three earned, in 5 2/3 innings.

Brayan Bello has failed to get through five innings in either of his two starts for Boston this season. He allowed four runs, three earned, in 3 1/3 innings after giving up six runs over 4 2/3 innings in a loss at Houston on March 31.

Up next

Brewers RHP Jacob Misiorowski (1-0, 2.45 ERA) faces Red Sox LHP Garrett Crochet (1-1, 3.27) on Tuesday.