After strong Paul Skenes start, Pirates scramble past Brewers in wild, 10-inning win

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly was only kidding following his club’s 6-5 walk-off win in 10 innings Friday night at PNC Park against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Yet the first remark he made meeting with reporters after the 3-hour, 35-minute game captured the roller coaster that was Friday’s contest, with the Pirates beating their NL Central foe on a wild pitch.

“A lot to unpack in that one, huh? Did (Paul) Skenes start?”

Skenes did indeed start, delivering his eighth quality outing of the year by lasting six innings and allowing only one run.

Eight of the night’s 11 runs were scored after he departed.

The Brewers took a 4-3 lead in the ninth, courtesy of a William Contreras solo homer off David Bednar, before the Pirates (18-34) tied things in the bottom of the inning on Oneil Cruz’s second home run of the evening.

In the 10th, Milwaukee took a 5-4 lead via an Isaac Collins RBI single, but the Pirates plated a pair in the bottom of the 10th, winning on a wild pitch by Abner Uribe, with Adam Frazier scoring the decisive run.

“I don’t know where to start,” Kelly said. “What a gutsy win, back and forth. The guys continued to battle, grind it out.”

Earlier in the third, Cruz hit the hardest homer of his career, a 117.9-mph blast off Brewers starter Freddy Peralta for the first run of the evening.

Peralta, taking a no-decision, lasted a season-low 4⅓ innings before the Pirates chased him in the fifth.

Skenes (3-5, 2.36 ERA) also earned a no-decision, allowing four hits, striking out eight and walking a pair.

One start removed from his first career complete game May 18 in Philadelphia, Skenes had to be content Friday to watch things play out from the dugout, culminating in action-packed ninth and 10th innings.

“It’s tough not being in control of it, but it’s cool to watch,” Skenes said postgame. “It’s nice to see us pull it out, which is something that we haven’t done as much to this point in the year. Hopefully it’s a good sign.”

A plethora of Pirates played key roles in pulling out the win.

Alexander Canario produced the game-tying run in the 10th, as his RBI single that scored automatic runner Spencer Horwitz from second made it 5-5.

From there, the Pirates’ walk-off win was temporarily delayed when Canario was gunned down at home plate trying to score on an Isiah Kiner-Falefa base hit.

Canario appeared to avoid a tag from Contreras, but following the game, Kelly clarified that Canario was called out due to running outside the baseline, an on-field ruling that couldn’t be challenged.

However, moments later, with Joey Bart at the plate, Uribe delivered a wild pitch to the backstop, allowing Frazier, who was intentionally walked and advanced to third on Kiner-Falefa’s hit, to score.

Frazier, while thrown out at second base twice Friday, once while trying to stretch a hit into a double in the fourth, as well as on a steal attempt in the eighth, finished 3 for 3 with two walks.

Kiner-Falefa was 3 for 5 while Andrew McCutchen went 2 for 3 with a pair of walks and a key double in the seventh.

“(We have) continued to compete and finish games and find ways to help the team win,” Kelly said. “I think we saw a lot of that tonight from a lot of different players and it was really cool.”

Up by one run early, the Pirates took a 2-0 lead in the fifth, chasing Peralta from the game when Bryan Reynolds drew a bases-loaded walk.

Following a labor-intensive first inning, Skenes avoided much traffic on the basepaths until the sixth, when Rhys Hoskins singled to plate Jackson Chourio, who walked and advanced to third on a Christian Yelich single.

But Skenes limited the damage, finishing his night having thrown 63 of his 101 pitches for strikes.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, the bullpen quickly coughed up the lead, as Tanner Rainey, who managed only one out before being replaced by Dennis Santana, was charged with a pair of earned runs in the seventh, handing the Brewers a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, following McCutchen’s double, Reynolds (1 for 4, two RBIs) brought him around to score with a base hit, tying things up.

In the eighth and ninth, Kelly turned to Caleb Ferguson and Isaac Mattson, both of whom produced big outs before Ryan Borucki (1-1, 3.20 ERA), Friday’s winning pitcher, took over in the 10th.

Friday marked the first time the Pirates won on a wild pitch since Aug. 4, 2022, which was also against the Brewers.

It was also Cruz’s first career multi-homer game.

“It feels good to just be able to go out there and everybody contributes to a win,” Cruz said through Pirates coach and translator Stephen Morales. “Everybody thinks right now they’re playing really good baseball and not giving up and playing really happy. It’s just a matter of putting in the effort for us to come out on top.”