Pirates manage just three hits, still edge Brewers

Luis L. Ortiz allowed one run on four hits over seven innings and Liover Peguero drove in two runs to lead the host Pittsburgh Pirates to a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.

Ortiz (7-8), who picked up his first win since Aug. 31, walked one and while striking out five.

Aroldis Chapman, who was clocked at 104 mph with a fastball that struck out pinch hitter Blake Perkins, garnered his 12th save. The final out was recorded when Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds threw out Willy Adames trying to stretch a single into a double.

Peguero, who played a combined 60 games with Pittsburgh in 2022 and 2023, was making his 2024 major league debut after being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on Tuesday. He had a two-run double while Isiah Kiner-Falefa had two hits for Pittsburgh (74-84).

Those were the Pirates' only three hits.

Jake Bauers hit a home run for Milwaukee (90-68), which had a two-game winning streak snapped. The Brewers were eliminated from contention for the National League's two first-round playoff byes. They will be the No. 3 seed in the NL playoffs and will host a wild-card series next week.

Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta (11-9) allowed two runs on two hits over 5 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out seven, including Reynolds leading off the bottom of the sixth for his 200th strikeout of the season.

Peralta, who logged a career-high 210 strikeouts in 2023, became the fourth pitcher in Brewers history to have multiple seasons of 200-plus strikeouts. He joined Teddy Higuera (two times), Corbin Burnes (three times) and Yovani Gallardo (four times).

Milwaukee took a 1-0 lead with one out in the second inning when Bauers hit his 12th homer of the season, a 402-foot drive deep into the concourse in right-center.

Pittsburgh rebounded to take a 2-1 lead in the fifth. Yasmani Grandal and Nick Yorke both earned two-out walks before Peguero then drove them in with a line-drive double into the gap in left-center.

The Brewers, who finished with just five hits, stranded runners at third in both the first and fourth innings.

--Field Level Media