Andrew McCutchen hit a home run and drove in two runs in the ninth inning Thursday as the visiting Milwaukee Brewers rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete a three-game series sweep.
Trailing 2-1 entering the ninth against right-hander Chris Stratton (0-1), Milwaukee pinch-hitter Christian Yelich laid down a bunt single. Kolten Wong singled to right and pinch-hitter Omar Narvaez singled to left to load the bases.
McCutchen, who played his first nine seasons with the Pirates, singled to center against his former team to drive in Yelich and Wong.
Left-hander Hoby Milner (2-0) pitched a hitless eighth for the Brewers to earn the victory. Right-hander Devin Williams struck out all three batters he faced on 16 pitches in the bottom of ninth for his first save.
Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta gave up three hits over six scoreless innings with no walks and seven strikeouts.
Rookies Jack Suwinski and Diego Castillo each drove in a run for the Pirates, who are 0-6 against the Brewers.
Pittsburgh left-hander Jose Quintana pitched a strong five innings but failed to get his first win since Sept. 5, 2019. He gave up one run and four hits with no walks and nine strikeouts.
Quintana’s only real blemish came right away. McCutchen sent the game’s first pitch into the stands in left for his first home run of the season to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead.
Pittsburgh didn’t log a hit until Josh VanMeter’s one-out flare single to left-center in the third.
The Pirates’ second hit came in the sixth when Daniel Vogelbach singled to shallow center with two outs. Bryan Reynolds moved him to second with a base hit to right, but Ke’Bryan Hayes flied out.
Milwaukee’s Brad Boxberger, who had not yielded a run this season, relieved Peralta in the seventh. Ben Gamel opened with a single to right and went to third when Michael Chavis broke an 0-for-18 slide with a ground-rule double to right. Suwinski got an infield hit, driving in Gamel for his first career RBI to tie the game 1-all.
Castillo drove in Chavis with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 2-1, chasing Boxberger for Brent Suter, who got VanMeter and Roberto Perez to fly out.
–Field Level Media
