PITTSBURGH (AP) — Oneil Cruz tripled home Isiah Kiner-Falefa with two outs in the seventh inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates edged the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 on Saturday.
Kiner-Falefa singled off Tyler Alexander (2-5) with one out and Cruz followed two batters later by sending a shot to the gap in right-center field. The 6-foot-7 Cruz — coming off the first multihomer game of his career in a victory Friday night — slid head-first into third, then popped up to celebrate.
Spencer Horwitz added two hits and drove in a run for the Pirates, who have won four of five. Chase Shugart (3-3) came on with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh and got Milwaukee’s Jackson Chourio on a fly ball to right to end the threat. David Bednar worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the ninth for his fifth save.
Caleb Durbin had three hits for the Brewers. Christian Yelich added two singles, but Milwaukee left nine men on base to lose for the third time in four games.
Pirates starter Mitch Keller pitched six stellar innings, allowing a run and seven hits with seven strikeouts. Yet Pittsburgh, as it has done consistently this season when Keller is on the mound, struggled to take advantage.
Keller has received the lowest run support of any starter in the majors, and when he left, the game was tied at 1 thanks to a solid effort by Quinn Priester.
Priester, taken with the 18th overall selection by Pittsburgh in 2019 before being sent to Boston at last year’s trade deadline, kept his former team in check over a season-high six innings.
Key moment
Pirates second baseman Adam Frazier made a slick spinning throw home for a force-out with the bases loaded in the seventh to keep the game tied.
Key stat
364 — The number of career strikeouts by Keller at PNC Park, the most by a Pirates pitcher since the ballpark tucked against the Allegheny River opened in 2001.
Up next
The series wraps up Sunday. Pittsburgh’s Bailey Falter (3-3, 3.50) has allowed just one earned run in his last 23 1/3 innings. Rookie Logan Henderson (3-0, 1.69) gets the nod for the Brewers.
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