Brewers blow lead, Pirates win on walk-off homer
The Pittsburgh Pirates' Tucupita Marcano and Rodolfo Castro celebrate after Carlos Santana hit a walk off home run to beat the Milwaukee Brewers on June 30. (Photo by Lauren Leigh Bacho/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH - Carlos Santana hit his first career walk-off home run, a two-run shot to cap a three-run ninth inning and rally the Pittsburgh Pirates past the Milwaukee Brewers 8-7 on Friday night for their fourth straight win.
With his team trailing 7-5, Andrew McCutchen drew the Pirates within one when he hit a one-out RBI double. Henry Davis grounded out and Santana, a 14-year veteran, drove a pitch from Matt Bush (0-2) deep to right field.
Santana also doubled twice, and McCutchen homered among his three hits and had three RBIs.
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The Pirates used RBI singles by McCutchen in the seventh and Jack Suwinski in the eighth to pull to 7-5. Suwinski had two hits.
Rookie Carmen Mlodzinski (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings for his first major-league win.
The Brewers’ Owen Miller had three hits and rookie Brice Turang hit a two-run double. Milwaukee had won four of its previous five games but fell out of a first-place tie with Cincinnati in the NL Central.
Turang’s double came in the seventh and followed an RBI double by Miller to push the Brewers’ lead to 7-3. However, the bullpen could not hold the lead as Milwaukee’s relievers had their streak of 19 consecutive scoreless innings end.
The Brewers scored four runs off rookie Osvaldo Bido in the second inning to break a scoreless tie.
The first run came when rookie right fielder Davis misplayed Christian Yelich’s line drive into a double. William Contreras brought home a run with a fielder’s choice, Rowdy Tellez hit an RBI single and Willy Adames capped the uprising with a sacrifice fly.
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The Pirates cut the deficit to one with a three-run fourth inning. McCutchen led off with a home run off the left-field foul pole before rookie Nick Gonzales hit a two-run double.
Brewers starter Freddy Peralta (6-7) allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings and has now gone seven starts since his last win on May 21.
Bido gave up four runs in 3 1/3 innings and is winless in four major-league starts.
Trainer's room
Pirates: RHP Colin Holderman (right wrist inflammation) was activated from the 15-day injured list after missing the minimum amount of time. RHP Cody Bolton was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis. ... LF Bryan Reynolds (lower back inflammation) will hit on the field Saturday for the first time since being placed on the IL on June 20.
Up next
The Brewers will start RHP Corbin Burnes (5-5, 4.10 ERA) on Saturday against RHP Johan Oviedo (3-8, 4.06). Burnes, the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner, is 1-3 with a 4.81 ERA in his last eight starts. Oviedo has lost four straight starts despite a 3.42 ERA.