Sal Frelick hit a two-run homer and Joe Ross pitched five effective innings for his first win in more than a month as the Milwaukee Brewers held on for a 4-3 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.
Milwaukee scored all of its runs in the second off Quinn Priester. Pittsburgh got a two-run homer from Nick Gonzales in the fourth and pulled within 4-3 with two outs in the ninth on Connor Joe’s solo homer, his sixth, off Trevor Megill.
The next batter, Jack Suwinski, struck out as Megill secured his fifth save in five chances.
Ross (2-4), who had lost his previous four decisions, allowed two runs on two hits in five innings. He fanned six and walked one for his first victory since April 9.
The only runs off Ross came on Gonzales’ first homer, a 396-foot, two-run shot to left-center.
Bryan Hudson followed Ross with two shutout innings, striking out three. Elvis Peguero tossed a scoreless eighth before Megill finished up.
Priester (0-4) settled in after Milwaukee’s four-run second, allowing just one hit over the next four innings. Priester allowed nine hits, struck out five and walked two in a six-inning, 93-pitch outing.
Milwaukee got to Priester for six hits in the decisive second. Joey Ortiz doubled with one out and Frelick followed with his first homer to make it 2-0. Oliver Dunn and Jackson Chourio singled before Brice Turang delivered a run-scoring single. Christian Yelich added a two-out RBI single.
Turang and William Contreras opened the Brewers’ first with consecutive singles, but Priester worked out of the jam with the aid of an inning-ending double play.
Contreras’ single extended his on-base streak to a career-high 22 consecutive games.
Prior to the game, Milwaukee placed first baseman Rhys Hoskins on the 10-day injured list because of a strained right hamstring. Hoskins, who has a team-high nine homers, was injured in Monday’s game. The Brewers recalled infielder Owen Miller from Triple-A Nashville.
–Field Level Media
