Bryan Reynolds’ Walk-Off Homer Gives Pirates 8-7 Win Over Brewers

Bryan Reynolds hit a walk-off home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Pittsburgh Pirates to an 8-7 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night at PNC Park.

Reynolds’ 16^th home run of the season gave the Pirates their second straight victory over the National League Central-leading Brewers. The Pirates had been on a seven-game losing streak while the Brewers had won seven of eight.

The homer to right-center off Devin Williams completed a three-hit night for Reynolds. Williams had made a franchise-record 30 consecutive scoreless relief appearances and had not allowed a home run all season.

Reynolds also scored three runs while recording his first career walk-off homer.

Pirates rookie Tucupita Marcano started in left field and had three hits after being called up from Triple-A Indianapolis earlier in the day for his third stint with the major league club this season.

Ke’Bryan Hayes had two hits and three RBIs. Oneil Cruz had a home run among his two hits.

Pirates catcher Tyler Heineman left the game with right groin discomfort after grounding out to end the fourth inning. Second baseman Kevin Newman left for a pinch-hitter in the eighth after getting his right hand stepped on while in a rundown an inning earlier.

Wil Crowe (4-6) retired all four batters he faced for the win as the sixth Pirates’ pitcher.

The Brewers tied the game at 7-7 with a three-run eighth inning against rookie Yerry De Los Santos immediately after the Pirates pulled ahead by scoring three runs in the seventh.

Willy Adames’ two-run single drew the Brewers within a run. He then scored when Rowdy Tellez singled off the glove of diving first baseman Michael Chavis.

Cruz hit his second home run in as many games, the rookie shortstop’s two-run drive to right-center capping the Pirates’ sixth and putting them ahead 7-4. Cruz’s eighth homer of the season traveled 434 feet to right-center off Brent Suter, and the 113.9-mph exit velocity represented the hardest-hit ball by a Pirates player this season.

Cruz’s homer came after immediately after Hayes snapped a 4-4 deadlock with a run-scoring single. Cruz is averaging an RBI every 4.92 at-bats this season, driving in 27 runs in 133 ABs.

The Brewers took a 4-0 lead against spot starter Tyler Beede in the second inning. The Pirates were forced into a bullpen game as they are short a starting pitcher following the trade of left-hander Jose Quintana on Monday to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Pirates chipped away at the deficit before moving in front in the seventh.

Hayes hit a two-run single in the third inning to get the Pirates within 4-2. In the sixth, Chavis hit a pinch-hit RBI double and scored the tying run on Marcano’s single.

It was the left-handed hitting Chavis’ fifth hit in his last nine at-bats against lefty pitchers.

Beede was tagged for four runs in 1.1 innings, allowing seven of the 11 batters he faced to reach base on five hits and two walks. He had one strikeout in his first major league start since 2019 with the San Francisco Giants.

Since being claimed off waivers from the Giants on May 12, Beede had posted a 2.64 ERA in 17 relief appearances.

Kolten Wong singled home the game’s first run in the first inning; then the Brewers added three more in the second to push their lead to 4-0. Adames hit a two-run double and scored when Tellez greeted Dillon Peters with a single.

Adames finished with four RBIs.

The Pirates will go for the three-game series sweep at 12:35 p.m. Thursday with Zach Thompson (3-8, 5.09) pitching against Brandon Woodruff (9-3, 3.55). Thompson has allowed seven runs in each of his last two starts.