Pirates rally in 9th inning but Brewers get walk-off home run

After the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied in the ninth inning to take the lead in the most unexpected way, the Milwaukee Brewers won in even more unbelievable fashion.

Eric Sogard hit a two-run home run for his first career walk-off to lead the Brewers to a 7-6 victory Saturday night at Miller Park. It was the first homer of the season for Sogard, who followed Jace Peterson’s walk by sending a Richard Rodriguez four-seam fastball 380 feet over the right-field fence to clinch the comeback win for the Brewers.

“We didn’t execute pitches,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We can’t walk the leadoff guy there, and I think he pulled a ball down and in to Sogard. He took a good swing at it.”

It was a deflating loss for the Pirates (9-21), who fell short of reaching double-digit victories at the halfway point of this shortened season after rallying for two runs against Brewers closer Josh Hader in the top of the ninth. But the Pirates left 11 runners on base, including eight in scoring position.

The Pirates blew a two-run lead in the eighth when pinch hitter Avisail Garcia hit a two-out double off lefty Nik Turley over the third-base bag for a 5-4 lead. But they ralllied by drawing five walks against Hader, who hadn’t allowed a hit let alone a run this season.

Hader walked Erik Gonzalez, Kevin Newman and Josh Bell to load the bases for Jacob Stallings, who got the game-tying RBI without taking a swing on four pitches. Adam Frazier did the same to score Newman for the go-ahead run off Hader, who threw only nine strikes in 32 pitches.

“Definitely not something that we’ve really seen from Josh over the last couple of years,” said Bell, who went 2 for 4 with a walk and two RBIs. “I think the tone was pretty much set from the get-go. … Definitely a crazy inning.”

The Brewers finally pulled Hader, and Devin Williams got Bryan Reynolds to ground into a forceout at home and pinch-hitter Gregory Polanco to fly out to right as Peterson’s sliding catch prevented a pair of runs.

The Pirates got off to a fast start when Gonzalez and Cole Tucker opened the game by hitting back-to-back singles off Brewers lefty Brett Anderson. After Gonzalez was caught in a rundown between third and home, Bell hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Tucker for a 1-0 lead.

But Brewers star Christian Yelich, who was 1 for 25 against the Pirates this season, answered with a 460-foot homer to right with an exit velocity of 112 mph off what Pirates starter JT Brubaker called a “mistake pitch” to tie it, 1-1.

“It was a two-seam that didn’t really move the way I thought it was gonna move,” Brubaker said. “It just kind of stayed right there on his barrel path.”

In the second, JT Riddle beat the shift by poking a double past the open third base to put runners on second and third with two outs. But both were stranded when Gonzalez got caught looking at Anderson’s 2-2 slider.

Brubaker got into a jam in the bottom of the second, when he gave up a double to Ben Gamel, a single to Orlando Arcia and walked Peterson to load the bases. The Brewers took a 2-1 lead when Brubaker walked Sogard, the sixth time this season a Pirates pitcher walked a batter with the bases loaded.

Stallings doubled to score Tucker to tie it at 2-2 in the third. The Pirates took the lead in the fifth, after Gonzalez hit a leadoff triple to center and scored on Newman’s sacrifice fly. Bell followed with his third homer of the season but first since Aug. 5, a 413-foot shot to right field for a two-run cushion.

Brubaker cruised to three scoreless innings, striking out Jose Urias, Yelich and Keston Hiura in the fifth. Brubaker finished with six strikeouts, while allowing three hits and three walks.

Sam Howard pitched a clean sixth, but Orlando Arcia homered off Chris Stratton to start the seventh and cut the Pirates’ lead to 4-3. Pirates lefty Nik Turley got into a jam in the eighth, giving up a double to Yelich and hitting Hiura with a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs.

Turley recovered to strike out Jedd Gyorko and get Ryan Braun to pop out to second but Garcia’s double down the third base line scored both runners to give the Brewers the go-ahead run.

“Yeah, it was an interesting three half-innings there to close the game,” Stallings said. “It stinks.”