Brewers rough up Rich Hill in 1st inning, hold on to beat Pirates and move into 1st place

The Pittsburgh Pirates looked to Rich Hill to stop a three-game losing skid and put some separation in the NL Central standings between themselves and the Milwaukee Brewers.

Instead, Hill struggled through a three-run first inning.

The Brewers took an early lead and held on as closer Devin Williams struck out Jason Delay with the bases loaded in the ninth inning for a 5-4 win Friday night at American Family Field.

Milwaukee (35-34) snapped a six-game losing streak to move into first place in the division, a half-game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds (35-35) and the Pirates (34-34), who have lost four consecutive.

“With where we’re at in the standings, it’s not just another game,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on The Fan postgame show. “But there’s still a lot of season to go. It’s June 16, and it’s the first time we’ve played the Brewers. There’s a lot of baseball left to play.”

The Brewers got a strong start from Julio Teheran (2-2), who allowed two runs on one hit and one walk while striking out four in six innings. The longtime Atlanta Braves ace spent last season playing independent baseball, splitting the summer between the Staten Island Ferry Hawks of the Atlantic League and the Toros de Tijuana and Sultanes de Monterrey of the Mexican League, before signing with Milwaukee in May.

The Pirates withstood a slow start from Hill (6-6), who was pitching on six days’ rest. The lefty gave up three earned runs on six walks and three hits while striking out five on 98 pitches in five innings – his shortest start since going 3⅔ innings in a 4-3 loss to Colorado on May 10.

“As sharp as we’ve seen Rich throughout the year, he just was not sharp early on and the walks came back to bite us,” Shelton said. “We gave up too many walks early.”

The first inning was his worst, as Hill labored through a 36-pitch opening frame, landing only 17 for strikes as he had trouble finding the zone with his four-seam fastball and curveball.

Hill walked leadoff batter Owen Miller but recovered by getting William Contreras to ground into a 5-4-3 double play. Hill walked Christian Yelich on four pitches and Willy Adames on a full count.

After Hill got Luis Urias looking at two called strikes, the Brewers loaded the bases when Austin Hedges was called for catcher’s interference, the fourth time it was called on Hedges this season.

Brian Anderson worked another full count before drawing a bases-loaded walk to score Yelich for a 1-0 lead, and Blake Perkins followed with a two-run single to center to give the Brewers a 3-0 edge.

Carlos Santana answered by sending Teheran’s full-count fastball 386 feet to right field for a leadoff home run, his sixth of the season, to cut it to 3-1 in the second inning.

Hill recovered by retiring the side in order on nine pitches in the second.

“He bounced back,” Shelton told Apple TV in an in-game interview. “He threw a bunch of pitches in the first. Command wasn’t where he liked it. But nine pitches in the second and he bounced back. Just a little bit of rust. He hasn’t thrown in a while.”

Hill, however, walked two of the first three batters he faced in the fourth and Contreras hit a double that bounced over the right field wall to drive in Perkins for a 4-1 lead.

After giving up the Santana homer, Teheran was perfect in retiring the next 12 consecutive batters. That ended when Ji Hwan Bae drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, stole second base, advanced to third on Hedges’ groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tucupita Marcano to cut it to 4-2.

Right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski, selected 31st overall in 2020, became Ben Cherington’s first draft pick as Pirates general manager to make his major league debut when he relieved Hill in the sixth.

Mlodzinski struck out Perkins on three pitches but surrendered a solo homer to rookie center fielder Joey Weimer, who snapped out of an 0-for-16 funk by hitting a 1-2 fastball 390 feet to right-center to give the Brewers a 5-2 lead.

“I thought he was really good,” Shelton said. “He made one bad pitch. … He missed down with a pitch into a hitter’s sweet spot. But, other than that, I thought he threw the ball really well for it being his first outing. And in a game like this, a good environment, I thought he did a really nice job.”

The Pirates took advantage when the Brewers turned to their bullpen, immediately loading the bases against Elvis Peguero after Andrew McCutchen drew a leadoff walk, Santana singled to right and Jack Suwinski was hit by a pitch.

Josh Palacios grounded to third for a forceout at home plate, but Ke’Bryan Hayes followed with a two-run single off the glove of second baseman Andruw Monasterio to cut it to 5-4. Palacios was thrown out at third on the play, allowing Hayes to reach second. Hayes stole third base, putting the tying run 90 feet from home when Peguero struck out Bae to escape the jam.

The Brewers got a scoreless eighth from Joel Payamps to get to Williams in the ninth. After getting Santana to line out to right, Williams walked Suwinski and gave up a double to Palacios to put runners on second and third. Williams got Hayes looking at a called third strike on the inside corner, then walked Bae to load the bases. That brought Delay to bat, and Williams got the backup catcher swinging at a changeup for the win.

“When we get one out, we’ve got to have contact, especially with them playing back,” Shelton said. “They were conceding us a run at home and giving us the opportunity and we have to make contact in that situation.”