Pittsburgh Pirates Ride 5-Run 6th Inning, Snap 7 Game Losing Streak

Tuesday night the Pittsburgh Pirates kicked off their three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers by rallying for a victory to snap their seven-game losing streak

After the trade deadline passed, the Pittsburgh Pirates kicked off a three-game series at PNC Park against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night. The night would end with one of the better feel good victories of the season for the Pirates.

Despite falling into a 3-0 hole, the Pirates were able to rally to defeat the Brewers 5-3. With the win, the Pirates improved to 41-62 on the season. This victory snapped the team’s seven-game losing streak, and they have won five of their last eight games played against the Brewers.

Bryse Wilson starts strong… wheels fall off in the 6th inning

Bryse Wilson started for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night. The righty started the game strong and it appeared he may continue his recent trend of pitching well. However, the wheels would fall off for Wilson in the 6th inning.

Entering the 6th inning the game was scoreless. Wilson would go on to allow three solo home runs in the 6th inning while recording just one out. This ended Wilson’s night after just 5.1 innings pitched.

In 5.1 innings pitched Wilson allowed the three solo home runs, he walked a batter and struck out two. Wilson now owns a 6.20 ERA, 5.16 FIP, just a 15% strikeout rate and a home run rate of 1.62 HR/9 in 61.0 innings pitched. While allowing Wilson to log innings down the stretch this season is not the end of the world, it is clear his future is not in the starting rotation of the Pirates.

Oneil Cruz home run powers five-run 6th inning

Entering the 6th inning the Pittsburgh Pirates were trailing 3-0. They were also likely kicking themselves after wasting two good scoring opportunities earlier in the game against former NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes.

To the credit of the Pirate batters, they continued to grind against Burnes in the 6th inning and finally broke through. After Bligh Madris and Cal Mitchell drew back-to-back walks to start the inning, Oneil Cruz would do Oneil Cruz things.

Cruz took a Burnes pitch that was off the plate and drove it to center field. The ball cleared the wall for Cruz’s 7th home run of the season, and tied the game at 3.

After Josh VanMeter walked, he would steal a base. VanMeter then scored on a base hit by Tyler Heineman, a throwing error by Willy Adames allowed Heineman to go to third base and this proved costly for the Brewers. After Kevin Newman struck out for the second out of the inning, Heineman would score on a passed ball to make the score 5-3 Pirates.

7th inning gets hairy

After the Pittsburgh Pirates grabbed a 5-3 lead, they would have to sweat things out in the 7th inning.

After making his Pirate debut in the 6th inning, Colin Holderman put two runners on base with one out in the inning before being lifted for Manny Bañuelos. It was a less than stellar Pirate debut for Holderman who allowed two hits and walked a batter in 1.0 innings pitched, all five balls put in play against him by the Brewers had an exit velocity of at least 94 MPH with three having an exit velocity of at least 103 MPH.

After Bañuelos hit a batter to load the bases with one out things looked bleak. He then got a pop out to shallow center field, Bryan Reynolds made an excellent play on the ball, his second strong defensive play of the inning after playing an Adames double off the center field wall perfectly to prevent Christian Yelich from scoring, to run in, catch the ball and quickly fire it into the infield. Bañuelos then got a strikeout to end the inning, keeping the score 5-3 Pirates.

It did not come easy for Holderman and Bañuelos. To their credit they overworked this to combine to pitch 1.2 scoreless innings of relief for manager Derek Shelton and the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

Yerry De Los Santos, Wil Crowe slam the door shut

With the Pirates leading 5-3 rookie righty Yerry De Los Santos got the ball in the 8th inning. De Los Santos continued the strong start to his MLB career by retiring the Brewers in order and striking out a pair. He now owns a 2.78 ERA, 3.78 FIP, 24 strikeouts and he’s walked just seven in 22.2 MLB innings pitched this season.

With David Bednar unavailable, Shelton turned to Wil Crowe in the 9th inning. While Crowe allowed a two-out single to Yelich, he struck out the other three batters he faced to slam the door shut on the Brewers.

Freddy Peralta (4.42 ERA, 2.1 FIP) is scheduled to come off the injured list and start for the Brewers in game two of the series on Wednesday night. As of this writing, the Pirates had yet to announce a starting pitcher. First pitch from PNC Park is scheduled for 7:05 PM ET.