Joey Ortiz’s two home runs lead Brewers to 9-3 win over Pirates

Box Score

After their four-game winning streak ended on Monday, the Brewers looked to rebound behind Freddy Peralta on Tuesday. It was a mostly good day for Peralta, but it was Joey Ortiz and the offense that stole the show. Ortiz’s first career multi-homer game led the offense as the Brewers cruised to a 9-3 win.

Peralta came out strong, striking out Oneil Cruz and Andrew McCutchen to start the game. He had Bryan Reynolds down 0-2 going for a third strikeout, but Reynolds hit a double on the third pitch. Peralta bounced back quickly, striking out Nick Gonzales to end the inning.

As for the Pirates, Andrew Heaney also started quick and strong. He needed just 11 pitches to get through the top of the Brewers’ order. Sal Frelick grounded out, Jackson Chourio flew out, and Christian Yelich lined out. Chourio and Yelich had some hard-hit balls, but they didn’t fall.

Peralta got himself into trouble quickly in the second inning. Three straight singles to start the inning from Spencer Horwitz, Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Adam Frazier loaded the bases. Henry Davis had the first chance to drive in a run. He hit a ground ball to Durbin, and Durbin went home and got the force on Horwitz. The bases remained loaded for Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Peralta didn’t let him get a chance to put one in play and struck him out. Cruz had a chance to drive in a run with two outs, but a sliding catch by Isaac Collins prevented any from scoring.

Brice Turang had the first hit for the Brewers, hitting a bunt single to get on base. He then tried stealing with two outs and would have been safe. However, he slid past the base and was tagged out, ending the inning.

After a rough second inning for Peralta, he settled down a lot in the third. He put together his first 1-2-3 inning of the night, finishing the inning with a strikeout of Gonzalez, his fifth of the game.

The Brewers struck first in the third inning. Durbin hit a one-out single to left to put a runner on base. Ortiz was up next, riding a seven-game hitting streak. That streak extended to eight games on the first pitch he saw. He hit one out to left field, and the Brewers had a 2-0 lead.

Frelick followed that up by hitting one deep, but Cruz chased it down for the second out. Chourio got on base with a five-pitch walk with two outs. Yelich worked the count full but flew out to left to end the inning.

Peralta kept rolling through the fourth. He pitched another 1-2-3 inning, adding one more strikeout. Following the loaded bases in the second inning, Peralta had retired nine straight. Meanwhile, the offense continued to add on for Peralta. Turang hit his second single of the night with one out, and Collins drew a four-pitch walk to put a runner in scoring position. Next up was Durbin, and he brought them both in with a home run deep into the left field bleachers.

That wasn’t all for the Brewers. Ortiz made it back-to-back home runs, hitting his second into the Brewers’ bullpen. After four innings, the Brewers had a 6-0 lead.

With a six-run lead, Peralta was able to just keep rolling. He put together his third straight 1-2-3 inning in the fifth and added on two more strikeouts. Through five innings, he struck out eight batters. His pitch count was looking like an issue early since he needed 40 pitches through the first two innings, but he finished the fifth inning at 81 pitches.

Heaney came back out for the fifth inning, trying to give the Pirates more innings to rest the bullpen. However, after Chourio singled and Yelich walked, the Pirates pulled him and went to the bullpen.

Freshly called-up pitcher Michael Darrell-Hicks entered the game in relief. Contreras worked a full count before grounding into a double play, but moved Chourio up to third in the process. That would be critical as Darrell-Hicks spiked a ball at Turang’s feet that went to the backstop, allowing Chourio to score easily. The Pirates checked to see if it hit Turang but did not challenge. Turang struck out to end the inning, but the Brewers had a 7-0 lead.

Heaney finished his day with four-plus innings pitched and seven runs allowed. He allowed seven hits, three walks, and three home runs. He also struck out three.

The streak of retired batters ended for Peralta at the start of the sixth inning, as McCutchen got a single just over Durbin for the Pirates’ first baserunner since the second inning. Another soft hit single reached the outfield, this time from Reynolds. Gonzalez would cash them both in with a home run out to left field, putting the Pirates on the board at 7-3. That ended the night for Peralta. His night finished after five-plus innings with those three runs allowed. He allowed seven hits, but also struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter.

Rob Zastryzny was out of the bullpen first for the Brewers. He started with a pop-up from Horwitz that several Brewers converged on in shallow left-center, but Ortiz made a short leaping grab for the out. Two more groundouts ended the inning, keeping the score at 7-3. It would stay there following the bottom of the sixth, as the Brewers went down in order for the first time since the first inning.

The seventh inning went to Jared Koenig. Davis flew out to start the inning before Kiner-Falefa hit a ground ball back up the middle that Koenig deflected upward. Turang charged and made a great throw, but Kiner-Falefa was too fast and easily beat it. Cruz was up next and hit an easy ground ball to Durbin. Cruz would have had a good chance to beat it out and avoid the double play had he run at full speed. However, Cruz barely ran out of the box, and the Brewers had an easy 5-6-3 double play (not a typo — the shift was on) to end the inning.

Ortiz started the bottom of the seventh against new reliever Carmen Mlodzinski. He recorded his first out of the day, a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with a groundout, and included a questionable foul tip that should have been a strikeout. Frelick collected his first hit of the day with a single. Following a Chourio pop-up, Yelich extended his hitting streak to eight games with a single that moved Frelick up to third. Both runners would be stranded at the corners after Contreras grounded out to end the inning.

Grant Anderson got the eighth inning as the Brewers maintained a four-run lead. It was an uneventful inning for him. McCutchen grounded out to Durbin, Hoskins caught a line drive hit right at him by Reynolds, and Gonzales flew out to Frelick to end the inning.

Hoskins gave the Brewers a baserunner in the bottom of the inning with a one-out walk. Collins followed that up with a single that Mlodzinski had to dodge. Hoskins was caught in no-man’s land waiting for the ball to fall, but Alexander Canario — who replaced Cruz to start the bottom of the inning — wasn’t quick enough with the throw, and Hoskins was safe. Andruw Monasterio came in as a pinch-runner for Hoskins after that.

From there, the Pirates’ defense had a couple of blunders. Durbin hit a ground ball between first and second — which should have been an easy double-play — but Gonzales bobbled the grab and had no play. Ortiz came up with the bases loaded and also hit into what should have been a double play. Horowitz likely would have been able to get the out by throwing home, but chose to go for the traditional double play. Horowitz threw to Kiner-Filefa for the out at second. Kiner-Filefa threw to first, but Mlodzinski — who was covering first — didn’t come up with the catch cleanly. That allowed Monasterio to score for an 8-3 lead.

The Brewers continued to add on from there. Frelick singled down the right field line to bring in Collins, increasing the lead to 9-3.

The Pirates went to Chase Shugart to face Chourio. Frelick stole second standing up — the Pirates left second uncovered — but Chourio grounded out to end the inning.

Abner Uribe took the ninth and mowed down the Pirates. He struck out Horwitz, Hayes, and Frazier on 15 pitches to end the game.

The bottom of the batting order had another big game for the Brewers. The seventh (Collins), eighth (Durbin), and ninth (Ortiz) hitters combined for a 5-for-11 day at the plate. They also drove in seven of the Brewers’ nine runs and scored six of them as well. Ortiz led the day with two hits, both home runs. He also drove in four, which would have been enough to beat the Pirates on his own. Durbin added a two-hit day as well, driving in three runs via his own home run. Collins had a hit and a walk.

Frelick and Turang also had two-hit days to help the Brewers’ offense. Chourio and Yelich both reached base twice on a hit and a walk each. Hoskins went 0-for-3 but drew a walk. Contreras was the only Brewers’ starter not to reach base.

With the series tied at one game apiece, the stage is set for the rubber match tomorrow afternoon. In a game that has been hyped since the starters were announced, Jacob Miziorowski will face Paul Skenes. It will be a standing-room only crowd, which is impressive in Milwaukee for a Wednesday afternoon game. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. CT. It will be televised on FanDuel Sports Wisconsin and available out-of-market as the MLB.TV Free Game of the Day. It will also be on the Brewers Radio Network.