Brewers 8, Pirates 3: Rain delay helps deliver a decisive victory
PITTSBURGH -- The rains couldn't have come at a better time for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Doing absolutely nothing against Ivan Nova, the offense got to reset after a delay of 2 hours 14 minutes sent the right-hander to the bench and took full advantage.
The Brewers hit three home runs to spark a six-run sixth inning and added another round-tripper in the seventh before going on to a much-needed 8-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on Friday night.
Travis Shaw's two-run shot put Milwaukee ahead to stay, then Mike Moustakas and Erik Kratz joined the party as the Brewers tacked on some rare insurance runs at a place where they'd been non-existent coming in.
Keon Broxton went deep in the seventh, and by the time all was said and done the Brewers had snapped a five-game losing streak on the Pirates' home field with an offensive outburst they hadn't put up there since winning, 10-0, on Sept. 4, 2016.
The Brewers also gained ground in the Central Division race with the Chicago Cubs losing, closing the gap to 1 1/2 games while maintaining their three-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the wild-card standings.
BOX SCORE: Brewers 8, Pirates 3
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"I just think having a good night here, period (is big)," said manager Craig Counsell, whose team lowered its magic number for clinching a postseason berth to five.
"We had a rough series here in July. So just getting this series off on a good note and scoring some runs against a team that’s done a good job of holding us down from scoring runs feels good, and it’s a really good way to start it."
Milwaukee had put next to nothing together offensively against Nova and reliever Richard Rodriguez through five innings before breaking the game open against Edgar Santana in the sixth.
Trailing, 3-1, the Brewers got a Christian Yelich single to open and Jesús Aguilar doubled him in to make it 3-2. Shaw followed with his homer to right, and suddenly Milwaukee had its first lead at 4-3.
Santana fell behind in the count with Ryan Braun at the plate then had to leave with an injury. Steven Brault finished the at-bat by walking Braun, then Moustakas went deep to center to up it to 6-3.
Kratz, up next, drilled a homer to left-center. Three more batters stepped to the plate against Brault as Milwaukee batted around for the 20th time on the season before Yelich finally grounded out.
"Tonight was a night where a bunch of guys did something good, and we finally kind of broke through offensively in Pittsburgh," said Counsell.
There were some fireworks in the seventh when Shaw was ejected by home-plate umpire Marty Foster for yelling an expletive after striking out. Seconds later, Broxton lined a shot just over the left-field wall that made it 8-3.
Corbin Burnes (6-0), Josh Hader, Corey Knebel, Joakim Soria and Jeremy Jeffress combined on five innings of scoreless relief to finish the game out.
Hader struck out three in 1 1/3 innings, running his string of consecutive punchouts to 16 before Corey Dickerson tripled with two outs in the sixth.
"Rain delays, it’s challenging when you start a game at 10:30 at night," Counsell said. "For us right now, we know these are important games and it’s easier to get locked in, for sure.
"There was good energy in the dugout and after Agui’s double it really picked up. This is a time of year where you’ve got to use what you’ve got going for you, to your advantage."
Originally slated to start Saturday's game, Jhoulys Chacín was moved up a day earlier in the week with an eye on him starting a potential wild-card game. It was his career-best 33rd start of the season.
His previous outing came against the Pirates on Sunday and resulted in a loss, and this one got off to a bad start when he allowed a two-out, first-pitch homer to right by Josh Bell in the first.
It took the Brewers until the fourth to register their first hit against Nova, and not surprisingly it was a double off the bat of Yelich.
With two outs, the Pirates elected to intentionally walk Shaw -- who came in a career .632 hitter with three homers against Nova -- to face Braun, and Braun responded with a single to right to score Yelich and tie it at 1-1.
But the deadlock didn't last long.
Francisco Cervelli led off the bottom of the frame with a single on an 0-2 fastball, then Dickerson hammered a 1-1 slider out to right to put Pittsburgh back in front by a pair.
It was the first homer since July 22 for Dickerson, and the first game Chacín had allowed multiple homers since the Los Angeles Dodgers touched him up for three in a 21-5 drubbing on Aug. 2.
With Chacín's spot due up in the fifth and Orlando Arcia on base after a one-out bunt single, Counsell pulled Chacín in favor of a pinch-hitter when the skies opened and the tarp was pulled.
Chacín's four-inning start was tied for his second-shortest of the season and his 63-pitch total was one shy of tying his season low.
The good news for the Brewers was the delay got Nova out of the game and helped start their comeback against the Pirates' bullpen.
"He struggled with his fastball tonight," Counsell said. "He was behind in the count quite a bit. His slider, he was able to throw it for strikes but it was the pitch they were kind of able to sit on a little bit.
"Just not getting ahead in the count, it kind of narrowed him in what he could do to hitters and some of their guys took advantage of that."
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
BUSINESS AS USUAL: It wouldn't be going too far overboard to call this road trip one of the most crucial in several seasons for the Brewers, considering all that's at stake. Even still, it was business as usual for them earlier Friday.
"I don't know what we're supposed to differently," Counsell said. "You come and you play the game and you give it everything you've got, and that's what we've been doing a good job of throughout this whole stretch since you guys have told us they're big games. So we're trying to keep the same attitude every day. I don't think changing things makes much sense."
POWER SURGE: The Brewers now have hit 200 homers for the seventh time in franchise history and in consecutive seasons for the first time. They also have three players with 30 homers -- Aguilar (33), Yelich (31) and Shaw (30) -- for the third time in franchise history.
GIVE HIM CREDIT: Some of the pre-game talk centered around Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield, the rookie quarterback who rallied the Brown to their first victory since 2016 on Thursday night. A friend of Yelich's, Mayfield walked into the stadium wearing an autographed Yelich jersey and then finished his postgame news conference calling for Yelich to be named the National League's most valuable player.
Said Counsell: "He's got good taste."
WELL-ROUNDED: If there's one area people have been dinging Yelich on in the MVP discussion, it's defense as he entered Friday with minus-1 defensive runs saved to his credit. A former Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner, Yelich had committed three errors in 1,183 1/3 innings in the outfield while logging time at all three spots. He's been starting in center with Lorenzo Cain battling a rib-cage issue, and he flashed his range Friday by running down a deep drive to the warning track off the bat of Pablo Reyes. He then closed the game by making a nice sliding catch in left to rob Colin Moran.
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR: Chacín came awfully close to hitting his second career homer in the third inning, when he sent a drive to left field that Dickerson hauled in a step shy of the wall. Chacín's only previous round-tripper came with Colorado in 2013, a two-run shot at Coors Field in a victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
RECORD
This year: 88-66
Last year: 81-73
COMING UP
Saturday: Brewers at Pirates, 6:05 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Zach Davies (2-6, 4.66) vs. Pittsburgh RHP Trevor Williams (13-9, 3.16). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.