Double take: Brewers rally for 3 runs on 3 doubles in 8th, beat Pirates for series split

The Pittsburgh Pirates bounced back from a bad start, thanks to grinding start from Bailey Falter, a prolific home run from Oneil Cruz and a go-ahead two-run double from Adam Frazier.

Just as the Pirates were on the brink of winning successive series for the first time this season, the Milwaukee Brewers made them do a double take with a three-run eighth inning.

The Brewers hit three doubles off left-hander Ryan Borucki, tying the game on a two-run double by Caleb Durbin and getting the game-winning hit from Brice Turang — who was 1 for 19 in the four-game series — for a 6-5 win Sunday afternoon before 18,920 at PNC Park.

“It’s baseball. We’re always thinking about everything, talking about walking (Durbin) and going to Turang,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Turang ends up getting a hit, too. There’s no perfect thing. We tried to make Durbin beat us, and he did.”

The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Pirates (19-35), who had won four of their past five in the seven-game homestand. Milwaukee (26-28) left town with a split in the four-game series.

Pirates left-hander Bailey Falter allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks with one strikeout over 5 2/3 innings, his worst start in an otherwise spectacular May. Falter had an 0.38 ERA over 23 2/3 innings this month — the second-lowest in the majors, behind Kansas City’s Kris Bubic (0.36 in 25 1/3 innings).

“I feel like my biggest battle sometimes is either the first inning or the fourth inning,” Falter said. “I feel like when we cruise through those, I’m in a pretty good spot to give this team a chance to win.”

Despite riding a scoreless streak of 16 2/3 innings, dating to the third inning of a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves on May 9, Falter had a bumpy start as the Brewers scored three runs in the first, one on an error.

Jackson Chourio drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a Christian Yelich single to center and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Rhys Hoskins for a 1-0 lead. Isaac Collins drew another walk to put runners on first and second, and both scored when Sal Frelick hit a low line drive to center and Oneil Cruz airmailed his throw to the plate, sailing over catcher Joey Bart’s outstretched mitt and bouncing off the backstop for a throwing error that gave the Brewers a 3-0 edge.

“Easy to pack it in — Bailey, as well,” Kelly said. “He went out there and gave us 5 2/3 of a solid start, gave us a chance to win. The guys continued to grind, battled back and we took the lead. Unfortunately, we didn’t hold onto it. That’s part of the game and we’ve got to keep on going and building off what we were doing this homestand.”

The Pirates loaded the bases in the second, when Alexander Canario and Adam Frazier hit back-to-back singles and Tommy Pham drew a two-out, full-count walk. Jared Triolo fouled off four consecutive pitches in an eight-pitch at-bat before hitting a bloop to center that looked like it could drop, only for Jackson Chourio to make a shoestring catch.

Cruz crushed Logan Henderson’s first-pitch fastball 432 feet, clearing the right field stands and bouncing into the Allegheny River to start the bottom of the third inning. It was clocked at an exit velocity of 122.9-mph, the hardest hit since Statcast started tracking the metric in 2015. It broke his previous record of 122.4, set against Atlanta on Aug. 24, 2022.

Alexander Canario led off the sixth with a triple off reliever Nick Mears that bounced off the wall at the North Side Notch, then scored on Frazier’s single to center to cut it to 3-2. Frazier advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Pham’s single to left to tie the game. Pham reached second on Jared Triolo’s sacrifice but Jared Koenig got Cruz swinging for a strikeout to prevent further damage.

The Pirates took the lead in the seventh, when Andrew McCutchen hit a leadoff single, Canario drew a two-out, full-count walk and both scored on Frazier’s double that dropped inside the left field line for a 5-3 advantage. Frazier went 9 for 18 with a pair of three-hit games in the homestand, including going 7 for 14 against the Brewers.

Borucki got into a jam in the eighth, when he walked Hoskins and gave up a double down the left field line to Collins to put a pair of runners in scoring position with one out. But Durbin hit a two-run double off the base of the left field wall to tie the game. Turang followed with a double to left to drive in Durbin and give the Brewers a 6-5 lead.

The Pirates responded with a rally, as Pham got an infield single and advanced to second on a balk by Abner Uribe and the Brewers intentionally walked Cruz. But Pham was picked off at second base and McCutchen went down swinging to end the frame.

Brewers closer Trevor Megill struck out Spencer Horwitz and Joey Bart to start the ninth. Canario beat the throw on a roller to short, then stole second base. Frazier worked the count from 0-2 to a full count but grounded out to second base to end the game.

“We’re in every game,” Frazier said. “We keep moving forward and we’re growing as a team. Everybody is playing pretty hard together and we have more room for growth. As long as we’re in every game, we give ourselves a chance.”