Brewers take advantage of Pirates' mishaps to clinch series win

This was one of those games where Rich Hill left with regrets, especially a three-batter sequence after the Pittsburgh Pirates spotted their starter a two-run lead against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Hill hit one batter with a pitch, walked another and fell behind in the count against William Contreras before serving up a center-cut fastball for a three-run home run.

Once they got the lead, the Brewers never looked back. They padded it with a pair of runs on a throwing error in the eighth inning on their way to a 6-3 win Sunday afternoon before 21,884 at PNC Park.

“This is on me,” said Hill (7-8), who allowed three runs on three hits and two walks. “It’s disappointing to put us in that position, especially after we had scored two runs to get ahead and to win the game. Then we go out there and give it up. That wasn’t in the playbook.”

The Brewers (45-39) won the final two games of the three-game series to remain tied with the Cincinnati Reds for first place in the NL Central, while the Pirates (39-44) are tied with the Chicago Cubs for third place, 4 ½ games back.

The Pirates had scoring chances but went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base, starting with one in the first inning.

Jack Suwinski hit a leadoff double to the left-center gap and advanced to third on Bryan Reynolds’ groundout to first, but Brewers righty Colin Rea escaped unscathed by getting Andrew McCutchen to pop up in foul territory behind the plate and Carlos Santana to fly out to center.

Josh Palacios started the second inning with a double that bounced off the Clemente Wall in right, and Nick Gonzales followed by crushing Rea’s first-pitch cutter 414 feet to straightaway center for his second home run and a 2-0 Pirates lead. It was the second time in the past week Gonzales drove one to the hedges, as his first homer went 442 feet.

“That’s pretty cool to hit it out there,” Gonzales said, “staying through the ball pretty straight.”

That quickly evaporated when Hill hit Raimel Tapia with a pitch and walked Andruw Monasterio to put a pair of runners on base for Contreras, who crushed a 3-1 fastball 435 feet into the home bullpen to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead.

“It was a poorly executed fastball,” Hill said. “As for that, I’ve just got to do better. I don’t really know what else to say. It’s one of those outings that really eats at you.”

Mixing his four-seam fastball and curveball, Hill recorded eight strikeouts — three looking — but it came at an expense as four of his strikeouts came on full counts and Hill ran his pitch count to 102 through five innings.

The Brewers threatened to score in the fifth when Contreras reached on third baseman Jared Triolo’s fielding error and Willy Adames doubled to center, putting runners on second and third. But Hill outraced Owen Miller on a grounder to first, taking the toss from Carlos Santana and tagging Miller before he could touch the bag.

In the bottom of the fifth, Triolo reached on an error by third baseman Brian Anderson and advanced to second on Austin Hedges’ sacrifice bunt. Suwinski drew a walk and Reynolds grounded out to second to put both runners in scoring position, but McCutchen grounded out to short to end the rally.

“We gave away a couple opportunities,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We had an opportunity in the first, an opportunity in the fifth. We have to capitalize, especially knowing that the back end of their bullpen is back because the first two days, they were not available.”

Rea (5-4), who relied on his sinker to get 12 groundouts, allowed two runs on five hits and one walk with three strikeouts. He was pulled after giving up a single to Hedges with two outs in the sixth in favor of lefty Hoby Milner. Connor Joe pinch-hit for Suwinski and hit a deep fly to left that almost carried past Blake Perkins before he snagged it.

After Carmen Mlodzinski walked Perkins and gave up a single to Anderson with two outs, the Pirates turned to lefty Ryan Borucki. Brice Turang hit a bouncer toward third that Borucki fielded, but his throw skipped past Santana at first base, allowing Perkins and Anderson to score as the Brewers increased their lead to 5-2. Turang was thrown out at second by Hedges to end the frame.

“That’s a tough play for a left-handed pitcher,” Shelton said. “Obviously, it ended up being a determining factor in the game.”

Elvis Peguero retired the first two Pirates he faced in the bottom of the eighth before Santana singled to right and scored on a double to center by Palacios to cut it to 5-3. Peguero got Gonzales to ground out to second to strand Palacios.

The Brewers extended their lead to 6-3 in the ninth, when Joey Wiemer hit a bouncer over Triolo’s glove for a single, advanced on Tapia’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Monasterio’s double to left. Closer Devin Williams retired the side in the ninth to earn his 17th save.

After winning the first four in a six-game homestand, the Pirates begin a seven-game road trip that features four games at the Los Angeles Dodgers followed by three at the Arizona Diamondbacks before the All-Star break.