Pirates Fall Flat Against First-Place Brewers

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates welcomed the first-place Milwaukee Brewers to PNC Park and were overmatched, falling 7-2 on Tuesday night.

Recap

The Brewers (90-67) rallied for three runs in the second inning against starter Bailey Falter (8-9) Sal Frelick doubled home a run and Joey Ortiz followed by driving in a pair with a single up the middle.

The Pirates (73-84) came within a run in the bottom of the inning, scoring once on a Jared Triolo base hit and a second time on a sacrifice fly from rookie Nick Yorke.

But Milwaukee capitalized on a pair of mistakes to add a run in the fourth. Willy Adames doubled to open the inning and advanced to third on a fly ball to center after Rhys Hoskins reached on catcher’s interference. Ortiz then bounced a potential inning-ending double play ball to first, but Billy Cook threw on into the outfield, which allowed Adames to score. 

Isaac Mattson made his second appearance since he was selected by the Pirates and walked in a pair of runs with the bases loaded. Joey Wentz relieved Mattson with the bases still full and one out and limited the damage to one run on a Sal Frelick sacrifice fly. 

With the loss, the Pirates have lost six of their last eight games and fell to 3-8 over their last 11.

Key Moment

Falter’s struggles in the second inning after a 1-2-3 first inning resulted in Brewers’ lead that proved to be insurmountable for the Pirates. 

Star of the Game

Adames 2 for 4 with a double and reached base three times. He drove in a run and scored twice. The Brewers’ shortstop has five hits over his last two games.

Stat to Know

The last time the Pirates won a season series against the Brewers was in 2018, when they went 12-7. In order for the Pirates to win the season series this year, they’ll have to win each of the final two games in this series. The Brewers are are 59-32 against the Pirates since 2019. 

Noteworthy

• The Pirates designated 1B Rowdy Tellez and OF Michael A. Taylor for assignment. OF Joshua Palacios and INF Liover Peguero were recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis. 
• The Pittsburgh chapter of the BBWAA announced their Pirates’ 2024 team awards. Bryan Reynolds was given the Roberto Clemente Award (team MVP) and Paul Skenes won the Steve Blass Award (team Cy Young). Andrew McCutchen was the recipient of the Chuck Tanner Award (most cooperative with the media).

Up Next

Luis Ortiz (6-6, 3.43 ERA) will start for the Pirates in the second game of the series on Wednesday night. Fellow right-hander Freddy Peralta (11-8, 3.69 ERA) will pitch for the Brewers. First pitch: 6:40 ET.