MILWAUKEE — The Pittsburgh Pirates broke the Milwaukee Brewers’ four-game winning streak with a 5-4 victory on Monday night, highlighted by Nick Gonzales’ impressive performance, going 5-for-5 with two RBIs. The winning run came in the sixth inning when Isiah Kiner-Falefa tripled Tommy Pham home. Pham had earlier hit a one-out single off Nick Mears (1-1) and blasted his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, in the fourth inning off Chad Patrick.
Kiner-Falefa’s crucial hit shifted the game’s momentum following Christian Yelich’s game-tying two-run homer in the fifth inning. Yelich connected on a 3-0 pitch from Chase Shugart (4-3), sending it close to the right-field foul pole. Yelich has been in phenomenal form, batting .402 with eight homers and 30 RBIs over his last 26 games, including 16 hits in 30 at-bats and 14 RBIs in his past seven games.
David Bednar successfully closed the game, earning his 11th save of the season while navigating through a hit and a walk in the ninth inning. Remarkably, Bednar has not allowed an earned run in his last 13 appearances.
Pittsburgh’s Braxton Ashcraft shone in his first career start, yielding just one hit and no walks across three innings, bringing his ERA down to 1.23. Although primarily a starter in the minor leagues, his previous seven major league games were all in relief.
The pivotal moment occurred in the ninth inning for Milwaukee with a runner on first and nobody out. Jake Bauers seemed poised to hit a walk-off homer, but his drive to right just veered foul. Shortly after, Caleb Durbin’s attempt to steal second ended with him being tagged out after oversliding the bag. Bauers managed to draw a walk, but Bednar effectively ended the threat by striking out Joey Ortiz and inducing Sal Frelick to fly out shallow to right.
A notable statistic from the game is Nick Gonzales’ outstanding recent form, with 12 hits in his last 22 at-bats, raising his batting average from .226 to .320 over the past five games.
Looking ahead, Pittsburgh plans to start left-hander Andrew Heaney (3-6, 3.94 ERA) in the next game, while Milwaukee will counter with right-hander Freddy Peralta (7-4, 2.76 ERA) on Tuesday night.