Pirates Storm Back in 7th inning, Beat Brewers 4-3 in Comeback Fashion

Down 3-0 in the top of the seventh inning, the Pirates entered with just one hit in the game. Suddenly, the Pirates exploded for four runs and took down the Brewers in shocking fashion.

Yoshi Tsutsugo started off the second inning with a hard-hit single to the wall, and a Kevin Newman single followed that up. With two runners on, Oneil Cruz blasted an RBI double, scoring Tsutsugo and making it a 3-1 Brewers lead.

Newman then scored after a bad Christian Yellich throw and an error from Brad Boxberger, bringing up Ben Gamel with Cruz at third base in a 3-2 game. Gamel then blasted a two-run homer to center field, and the Pirates took a 4-3 lead.

After a scare in the bottom of the seventh, the Pirates held on and beat the Brewers 4-3, after a very good performance from the backend of the bullpen. The Pirates go for the series win on Sunday afternoon.

Zach Thompson didn’t have the best outing Saturday evening against the Brewers. Throughout the game, Thompson would miss the zone with regularity and found himself in trouble more often than not. Thankfully for Thompson, he showed just enough intestinal fortitude to prevent a ton of damage.

The first inning comes to mind with runners on first and second, Jack Suwinski made a hell of a catch at center field, and then Thompson forced an inning-ending double play. All of this happened with more balls thrown than strikes.

Thompson’s final line read 4.2 innings pitched, six hits, two earned runs, three walks, and four strikeouts. Thompson threw 88 pitches and had 50 of them called strikes (57% strike rate).

Andrew McCutchen hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Keston Hiura singled to left field, and with an error charged to Ben Gamel, the Brewers scored and increased their lead to 3-0.

Takeaways

Get FIRRREEED UP!- After a questionable strike three call to Bryan Reynolds in a huge spot in the game, Derek Shelton let his opinion be heard and got ejected for it, and the Bucs responded by taking the lead.

Battling Bucs- Duane Underwood Jr. showed some extreme composure after having runners on first and third and no outs. Incredible job by Underwood to get out of that seventh inning unscathed.

Stepped Up- After committing his first error in 275 games, Gamel made up for his error and stepped up with the game-winning two-run homer in the seventh.