Christian Yelich’s two-run single in the seventh inning was the game-winning hit as the visiting Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 on Wednesday night.
Rafael Flores Jr. had broken a 3-3 deadlock and given the Pirates their first lead with a solo shot off JoJo Romero with one out in the sixth.
Milwaukee responded the next inning by loading the bases with no outs. One out later, Yelich hit a ball down the third base line off Carmen Mlodzinski (7-7) to bring home the go-ahead runs.
Jake Mangum and Brandon Lowe singled in the bottom of the frame, but Shane Drohan induced an inning-ending double play from Bryan Reynolds to escape the jam.
Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill combined for the final six outs as the Brewers (95-57) prevailed one night after clinching their fourth straight National League Central title. Megill recorded his 28th save.
Milwaukee reliever Antonio Senzatela (11-5) tossed two-thirds of an inning and didn’t give up a run. Andrew Vaughn, Cooper Pratt and Brice Turang had an RBI each.
Oneil Cruz and Lowe also homered for Pittsburgh (75-77), which has lost four of its past five games. Shortstop Konnor Griffin finished 2-for-5 with a double.
Milwaukee hit four consecutive singles to mount a two-out rally in the second and open the scoring. Vaughn and Pratt provided RBI knocks from the bottom two spots of the lineup after Joey Ortiz and Luis Lara reached to spark the two-run inning.
Cruz cut the Brewers’ lead in half with a 113 mph liner over the fence in right field to lead off the fourth.
Turang responded in the fifth with an RBI double into the right-center gap to score Pratt, who singled and stole second to start the inning.
The Pirates tied the game in the bottom of the inning on Lowe’s 418-foot two-out home run to right field after Griffin doubled.
Both starting pitchers, Logan Henderson for the Brewers and Jared Jones for Pittsburgh, gave up three runs in five innings and took no-decisions.
–Field Level Media
