PITTSBURGH —Just when you thought a sweep of the Padres had the Pirates back and feeling good about themselves, they do something like this.
After trailing for the entirety of Friday’s game against the Brewers, Osvaldo Bido and Dauri Moreta both struggling, Carlos Santana sent everyone home happy with a two-run, walk-off homer to seal an 8-7 victory at PNC Park.
The home run capped a monstrous game for Santana, who earlier cracked a pair of doubles. This month, nobody has more than Santana’s 19 RBIs, as he has been one of their most consistent hitters.
Another of those guys has been Andrew McCutchen, who set up Santana’s heroics with a double as part of a three-hit night, one that also included a home run.
The Pirates faced deficits of 4-0 and 7-3 before closing the final gap, allowing them to extend their winning streak to four games.
Bido suffered his worst big league start to this point and Moreta was ineffective during a three-run seventh for the Brewers, as Pirates nearly lost this one because of a surprise lack of pitching.
Entering Friday's games, Pirates starters had posted a 2.84 ERA in the past seven games. The bullpen had an 0.53 ERA over the past six. Bido, meanwhile, had a 3.45 ERA in three starts totaling 15 2/3 innings.
Milwaukee carried a 7-3 lead into the bottom the seventh, thanks to a series of Pirates miscues. Nick Gonzales made an error. Angel Perdomo hit a batter. Moreta entered and got a pair of outs before giving up back-to-back doubles to Owen Miller and Brice Turang.
Miller lined a Moreta slider over a leaping Jared Triolo at third to score a run. Turang then blasted a lousy change-up from Moreta for what was essentially a backbreaker in this one, as a pair of runs scored.
The Pirates, to their credit, didn’t quite. Tucupita Marcano led off their half of the seventh with a single and scored when McCutchen shot a first-pitch cutter through the left side.
Pittsburgh drew within two (7-5) an inning later when Santana opened with a double and Jack Suwinski lined a heater in a similar spot through the right side.
The Brewers built a a sizable lead during a four-run third, but the Pirates answered with three of their own in the fourth.
McCutchen got the Pirates on the board with his 10th homer of the season, going down to get a 1-2 curve from Brewers starter Freddy Peralta, the ball clanking off the left-field foul pole.
The homer extended McCutchen’s on-base streak to 19 games dating back to June 5. It’s the ninth-longest of McCutchen’s career and his best since reaching in 24 straight from April 18-May 14, 2018.
It’s also the longest such streak for the Pirates since Ke’Bryan Hayes reached in 28 straight from Sept. 19, 2020-June 25, 2021. Within a single season, the last that was longer was Bryan Reynolds’ 23 from May 16-June 9, 2019.
Gonzales followed with a two-run double to right. Eighth pitch of the at-bat. Fastball down. Gonzales drove it the other way with authority to notch his fourth MLB hit: a single, triple, home run and double, in that order.
That made Gonzales the second Pirate since 1961 to complete the career-opening pseudo-cycle, joining Hayes in 2020. Elly De La Cruz of the Reds is the only other player to do it this season.
ON THE MOUND
One night after Luis Ortiz definitely did not have his best stuff, Bido suffered a similar fate. He struggled to put hitters away and allowed four earned runs over 3 1/3 innings, walking one, hitting two and striking out none.
After a walk and a single to start the third inning, Milwaukee grabbed a 1-0 lead when designated hitter Christian Yelich lined a slider into right field for a double.
Triolo couldn’t get Brewers right fielder Raimel Tapia at home on a fielder’s choice hit by catcher William Contreras before first baseman Rowdy Tellez lined a poorly executed slider from Bido into center field for a 3-0 Milwaukee lead.
The Brewers finished their nine-batter outburst in the frame by extended their lead to 4-0 thanks to a sacrifice fly hit by shortstop Willy Adames.
AT THE PLATE
Furries.
That one word came McCutchen's Twitter account the other day, and there's a reason: Through the first 15 games of his career during Anthrocon, McCutchen was hitting .419 with three homers in 15 games. He now has four home runs in 17 games when the furries are here.
That's a 38-homer pace in 162 games compared to 24 homers per 162 games for the rest of McCutchen's career.
McCutchen now has at least 10 homers in each of his 15 big league seasons, making him the only active player with double-digit home runs every season since 2009.
Santana collected a pair of doubles to close a really good June. At that point, he had hit .280 in 24 games, with six doubles, five home runs, 17 RBIs and 14 runs scored.
UP NEXT
Johan Oviedo takes the ball to kick off July. He had a 3.23 ERA in five starts during the month of June and has allowed just two home runs in his last six starts (35 innings).
