Liover Peguero double lifts Pirates past Brewers, as Luis Ortiz allows 1 run in 7 innings

Luis Ortiz made his last start of the season one of his best, perfectly punctuating a season that began in the bullpen and ended with him becoming one of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ most improved pitchers.

Using a cutter that developed at midseason — much like the 25-year-old right-hander himself — Ortiz held the Milwaukee Brewers to one run over seven innings.

Ortiz shined in his finale, and Liover Peguero delivered a two-out, two-run double in his first start of the season at shortstop to push the Pirates to a 2-1 win Wednesday night before 15,965 at PNC Park.

Ortiz (7-6) had good reason to be beaming with pride after exiting as he allowed one run on four hits and one walk with five strikeouts in tying his season high by going seven innings. He lowered his ERA to 3.27 over 15 starts since June 26.

“I think it was very important, and I think it’s why he was able to evolve into the type of starter that he has,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “It stair-stepped up to where he was at. We opened for him three or four times. It was like, ‘All right, now we’re ready to transition him back into the starter role.’

“Really proud. And he should be proud. In his case, it’s the culmination of a really good year where he got better. We challenge people to get better. We challenge ourselves to get better. He did that throughout the year, and he’s put himself in a really good spot.”

Credit the addition of the cutter to an arsenal that includes a four-seam fastball, sinker and slider. Ortiz threw the cutter on 25 of his 92 pitches, getting nine swings, two whiffs and six called strikes.

“That’s a new pitch,” Shelton said. “For how much it played and how much he was able to make that pitch better during a major-league season is something that’s really important.”

Asked if Ortiz was the Pirates’ most improved pitcher, Shelton paused.

“He’s got to be in there because of the new pitch that he started with midseason,” Shelton said, “and it’s become a real weapon for him.”

When Ortiz left a first-pitch sinker over the middle of the plate with one out in the second, Jake Bauers sent it 402 feet over the right-center fence for his 12th home run to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead.

The Brewers threatened to score again in the fourth, when William Contreras hit a leadoff single, stole second base and advanced to third on a fielder’s choice. But Ortiz escaped that situation, then allowed only a pair of singles over the final three innings.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa copied Contreras by leading off the bottom of the fourth with a single, stolen base and advancing to third on a fielder’s choice, but Brewers starter Freddy Peralta (11-9) sandwiched strikeouts of Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen around an Oneil Cruz groundout to protect the one-run lead.

The Pirates answered with a two-out rally in the fifth, when Yasmani Grandal and Nick Yorke drew successive full-count walks and Peguero drove in both with a double to the North Side Notch to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead.

After playing 59 games for the Pirates last year, the 23-year-old Peguero spent the entire season at Triple-A Indianapolis and was named team MVP. Peguero was thrilled to be recalled Tuesday and showed his excitement at second base after giving the Pirates the lead.

“It’s a dream,” Peguero said. “(I’ve) been working really hard just trying to get back and trying to hear the same thing I was hearing last year. So I’m just glad I’m back and happy to have the people I got around here.

“When you work really hard and then you see the results, the results that you’d be looking for, you just get excited. Right now, I just want more. I’m going to continue to keep improving out there and give everything I have, which is really exciting.”

Peguero then ranged to his left to make a sliding catch of a line drive by Garrett Mitchell for the final out of the sixth inning.

“Big hit there,” Shelton said. “He’s had a really good year in Indy. … That’s why it’s important to get him up here, to get a little bit of that taste, then he comes back next inning and comes back and makes a diving play. Really important. Big night for Peggy. Really happy for him.”

The Pirates got a strong finish from their bullpen as Dennis Santana replaced Ortiz in the eighth and threw all five of his pitches for strikes for a clean inning. Lefty Aroldis Chapman earned his 12th save after getting two quick outs in the ninth before giving up a single to Adames, who was thrown out at second by Reynolds.

But this win was more about Ortiz’s start than the finish, given that he thrived in every role the Pirates put him in until he earned a spot in the starting rotation.

“I think this last start, what it means is all the work that I put in throughout the year to stay up here and stay healthy,” Ortiz said through translator Stephen Morales. “I think that’s the key.”