The Milwaukee Brewers took advantage of Pittsburgh Pirates’ miscues in a three-run third inning, then nearly let their lead slip away in similar fashion in the bottom of the ninth. But with runners on first and third, Brewers reliever Joel Payamps struck out pinch hitter Andrew McCutchen to clinch a 3-2 win Wednesday night before 10,370 at PNC Park.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Pirates, who had chances to win after the Brewers committed two errors in the ninth. Edward Olivares hit a chopper back to the mound that Payamps knocked down, but Olivares beat the throw to first base, and the call stood upon review. Then Joey Wiemer dropped an Oneil Cruz fly ball in left field, putting the go-ahead run on base.
With two outs and runners on the corners, the Pirates sent McCutchen to pinch hit for Henry Davis. McCutchen, who hit leadoff home runs in each of the previous two games against the Brewers, went down swinging at a fastball at the top of the strike zone.
Right-hander Quinn Priester was scheduled to start, but the Pirates bumped him to Friday night at the San Francisco Giants and instead used lefty reliever Josh Fleming as an opener, with righties Luis Ortiz, Roansy Contreras and Hunter Stratton in relief. Pirates manager Derek Shelton said the back-to-back quality starts by Jared Jones and Bailey Falter allowed for the bullpen game, giving the starting pitchers an extra day of rest between outings.
“We’re going to try and build in as many days as possible for guys,” Shelton said before the game, “and the fact that we’ve had two extended starts, that makes it an easier decision.”
Fleming gave up a leadoff single to William Contreras, but Willy Adames grounded into a 6-4-3 double play before Owen Miller flied out to right.
In the second inning, Fleming walked Blake Perkins but got a pickoff play to mark the first time the Pirates caught a base stealer.
When the third started with Sal Frelick hitting a grounder to first and Rowdy Tellez making an errant throw behind Fleming covering the bag, it was a bad omen. The Brewers would score three runs on one hit, two walks and two hit batsmen.
After Fleming walked Brice Turang, the Pirates turned to Ortiz. Contreras singled to center to score Frelick for a 1-0 Brewers lead, then Ortiz hit Adames with a pitch to load the bases. With two outs, Ortiz hit Rhys Hoskins with a full-count pitch, then walked Perkins on four pitches to make it 3-0 before getting Joey Ortiz looking at a called third strike to end the frame.
The Pirates answered in the bottom of the third, when Connor Joe drew a one-out walk and Bryan Reynolds followed by sending Bryse Wilson’s 3-1 cutter 402 feet to right-center for a two-run home run to cut it to 3-2.
Contreras gave up a pair of singles in the sixth, so the Brewers had runners on the corners when Turang attempted to steal second base. Pirates catcher Davis made the throw to second, but Jared Triolo cut it off and threw back home to get Frelick out at the plate.
