Pirates hit 4 home runs, bail out Quinn Priester in victory over Brewers

In most circumstances, a starting pitcher’s outing being over after four innings is not conducive to his team pulling off a win.

That was the result of Quinn Priester’s fourth MLB start Friday in Milwaukee, as he took a no-decision, allowing three runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts over four innings of work.

But thankfully for Priester (2-1, 8.69 ERA), his teammates proved more than capable of bailing him out, as the Pirates hit four home runs at American Family Field, defeating the Brewers, 8-4, in the second game of four in Milwaukee.

“I fell behind guys more than I wanted to, but at the end of the day, we got the outs we needed and minimized the damage a lot tonight, so I was proud of that,” Priester said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show.

Alfonso Rivas, Henry Davis, Josh Palacios and Bryan Reynolds all went deep in the win.

Rivas, batting fifth in his second game with the Pirates (49-60), went 3 for 5 with three RBIs, finishing a double shy of the cycle.

“It feels good,” Rivas said. “I think we came ready to play today. … It was a good day.”

Reynolds added an RBI double to his homer and also finished with three hits, with Davis and Alika Williams posting multi-hit evenings as well.

Rivas got the Pirates on the board early, crushing a two-out, three-run homer off of Milwaukee starter Colin Rea to hand his club a 3-0 lead.

But the Brewers got a pair back in the bottom of the first.

Christian Yelich led off with a double and scored on an RBI single by Carlos Santana.

Milwaukee rookie Sal Frelick, who collected five RBIs Thursday, then scored William Contreras with a sacrifice fly before the inning ended.

The Pirates provided Priester with another three runs of support in the second inning, courtesy of an RBI double by Reynolds and Davis’ two-run homer to left field.

Priester pitched a quiet second and third inning, but in the fourth, things nearly got out of control when he loaded the bases with no outs by allowing a single to Mark Canha, followed by walks to Brian Anderson and Brice Turang.

But Priester, buoyed by a mound visit from pitching coach Oscar Marin, escaped the inning unscathed.

Joey Weimer popped out, Yelich struck out looking, and Contreras grounded out to third base for the inning’s final out.

Originally, second base umpire Nate Tomlinson ruled Anderson safe at second, which led to Canha scoring from third, but manager Derek Shelton quickly challenged the call and after a review, it was overturned, preserving the Pirates’ 6-2 lead.

“It wasn’t the prettiest, but we were able to get through it,” Shelton said. “ … (Priester) showed me that he’s not afraid. That’s not an easy situation – he’s one hit away from coming out of the game at the top of their order.”

Priester’s leash was not long enough to stay in the game after allowing a leadoff homer in the fifth to Santana, which made the score 6-3 in favor of the Pirates.

He was replaced by Yerry De Los Santos (1-1, 3.18 ERA), who pitched the fifth and was the winning pitcher.

In the sixth, Palacios and Reynolds hit back-to-back homers off former Pirate Bryse Wilson.

Up 8-3, the Pirates began cycling through relief pitchers for the remainder of the game.

Ryan Borucki pitched a scoreless sixth, with Colin Holderman and David Bednar doing the same in the eighth and ninth.

The Brewers managed one final run in the seventh off Carmen Mlodzinski, who walked three and gave up an RBI single to Canha.