Pirates 5, Brewers 4: Milwaukee struggles to score after first inning and loses series

PITTSBURGH – The Milwaukee Brewers aren’t used to losing with Freddy Peralta on the mound, but that’s precisely what happened Wednesday at PNC Park.

Despite claiming a 3-0 advantage out of the gates, the Brewers offense failed to tack on runs, and the Pirates eventually rallied to tie the game against Peralta and took the lead against the Brewers bullpen for a 5-4 win.

The Pirates took the three-game series, two games to one.

Milwaukee (77-62) lost with Peralta, the National League pitcher of the month in August, on the mound for the first time in eight games.

Box score: Pirates 5, Brewers 4

Sixth inning burns Freddy Peralta

Peralta allowed just one run through his first five innings, a solo homer to Ke’Bryan Hayes, on two hits and no walks while striking out four.

Things got away from Peralta in the sixth. He got the first out of the inning on a foul pop up before Bryan Reynolds singled and Hayes walked.

Jack Suwinski laced a double to the wall in right to bring home a run and end Peralta’s outing.

Trevor Megill entered and promptly surrendered a game-tying single to Joshua Palacios before striking out the next two Pirates batters to get out of the inning.

In six starts in August, Peralta had a 2.10 ERA, striking out 46 in 30 innings while going 5-0.

Wednesday marked the first time in just over a month – Aug. 3 – that Peralta allowed more than two runs in a start.

Brewers offense puts up all zeros after the first

The Pirates opted to go with an opener before going to Bailey Falter to be the bulk inning-eater. It didn’t go as they had planned, with Connor Selby allowing a three-run home run to Willy Adames with two outs in the first, but the Pirates pitching dominated a hapless Brewers offense after that.

Falter went 3 ⅔ innings allowing just one Brewers hitter to reach base and striking out three.

Cody Bolton relieved Falter and recorded four scoreless outs with a pair of strikeouts. Bolton pitched out of a jam after allowing a two-out single and walk in the sixth, which served as the Brewers’ only real scoring chance after the first.

Carmen Mlodzinski threw a 1-2-3 seventh, Colin Holderman worked a scoreless eighth and David Bednar picked up the save in the ninth.

Brewers give up the lead late, squander golden rally opportunity

For the second straight Wednesday afternoon road game, a ground ball that deflected off a Brewers reliever loomed large.

Following in the footsteps of Cody Bellinger’s game-winning RBI single last week in Chicago, that’s exactly what Jason Delay did with one out against Elvis Peguero in the seventh.

Delay then scored on Ji-Hwan Bae’s triple to center field one batter later, giving Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead.

After Hayes struck out, Hoby Milner entered and allowed an RBI single to pinch-hitter Miguel Andujar to push the Brewers’ deficit to 5-3.

Milwaukee rallied for a run in the eighth with three straight one-out singles but Rowdy Tellez grounded into an inning-ending double play with the tying run at third against Colin Holderman.

Clayton Andrews optioned to the minors

Following a rough outing Tuesday, the Brewers sent left-hander Clayton Andrews to Class AAA Nashville and selected the contract of right-hander Thyago Vieira.

Andrews allowed three runs without recording an out in the ninth, becoming the second pitcher in franchise history to allow three or more runs without throwing more than five pitches.

In three games with Milwaukee this season, Andrews has recorded five outs and allowed eight earned runs for a 43.20 ERA.

Vieira, meanwhile, last appeared in the majors in 2019 with the White Sox and had a 3.35 ERA in 33 games with Nashville this year.

Vieira inked a minor-league deal with the Brewers in the off-season and is one of just five Brazilian-born players to have ever played in the majors.

Brewers schedule coming up

Friday – Brewers at Yankees, 6:05 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Colin Rea (5-5, 5.07) vs. New York TBA. TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Pirates rally against Freddy Peralta, Brewers to take series