Johan Oviedo pitched seven innings of two-hit shutout ball and Connor Joe, Endy Rodriguez and Bryan Reynolds each homered to power the Pittsburgh Pirates to a split in their four-game road series against the Milwaukee Brewers with a 4-1 win on Sunday.
Oviedo (6-11) was dominant, only allowing hits to William Contreras, who had a single in the first and a double in the sixth.
The Brewers trailed 2-0 after Rodriguez’s third-inning solo home run and Joe’s blast in the fourth. Contreras tried to leg out his sixth-inning double into a triple.
Contreras was gunned down when center fielder Jack Suwinski’s relay throw to Liover Peguero and Peguero’s throw to third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes came in ahead of his head-first slide. Milwaukee never threatened again.
Oviedo recorded his third win in as many starts and extended a stretch in which he has allowed only two runs over three starts and 20 innings.
Pittsburgh doubled its lead and made hope of a Milwaukee rally more difficult in the eighth when Reynolds — pinch-hitting for Jared Triolo — crushed a pitch from J.C. Meija to also bring home Rodriguez. Rodriguez led off the inning with a single, part of his 3-for-4 day at the plate.
Rodriguez’s eighth-inning single and bunt single in the fifth, and Alfonso Rivas’ double in the fourth immediately following Joe’s solo home run, were the only Pirates hits to not go over the wall.
Four of Pittsburgh’s six hits came off Milwaukee starter Brandon Woodruff (1-1), who struck out nine in five innings but took the loss.
The other two hits came off of Meija and provided the Pirates with a valuable cushion. Carmen Mlodzinski walked Contreras to open the ninth inning and gave up Carlos Santana’s single. Contreras advanced to third on Willy Adames’ fielder’s choice, then scored on Hayes’ throwing error.
Milwaukee got the tying run to the plate, but Mlodzinski forced Andruw Monasterio to fly out to preserve the win.
Contreras went 2-for-3 for the Brewers. Santana went 1-for-4 and Brice Turang went 1-for-2 in the loss, Milwaukee’s seventh in its last 10 games.
–Field Level Media
