Rookie Rodolfo Castro hits 2 home runs to make history as Pirates lose to Brewers

Taking baseball’s hits leader out of the lineup had a profound impact on the Pittsburgh Pirates, who hadn’t scored a run since trading All-Star second baseman Adam Frazier to the San Diego Padres on Sunday.

Rodolfo Castro wasn’t aware that the Pittsburgh Pirates’ scoreless streak had stretched to 23 innings when he went to bat in the seventh inning against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Castro squashed the Brewers’ shutout bid with a historic blast, sending a 437-foot home run to the visiting bullpen in left-center. Then the 22-year-old switch-hitting rookie put his name all alone in the record books.

Castro added a two-run shot in the ninth to become the first player in the modern baseball era to have his first five career hits go for home runs, giving the crowd of 10,204 Wednesday night at PNC Park something to cheer about with his history-making performance in a 7-3 loss.

Just a day after being recalled from Double-A Altoona, Castro counted his blessings while trying to absorb his newfound place in the game’s history books.

“In all reality, I had no idea,” Castro said through team translator Mike Gonzalez. “I knew that it was special, but I had no idea that I had just set a record, or accomplished something that no one else has ever accomplished. I’m feeling great. I’m feeling very emotional right now. I’m feeling amazing. The mindset is just let’s keep it going, let’s continue forward.”

That Castro is Frazier’s replacement at second base is poetic for the Pirates, who had been outscored, 22-0, since the first inning of Sunday’s loss at San Francisco.

“It was nice just to score some runs,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “That was important for us to get on the board and to keep going. I don’t know about the poetic part, but Rudy had good swings.”

With his first homer, the 22-year-old Castro tied Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story (2016) as the only players to homer in each of their first four hits. Where Story’s streak stopped at four — he homered in six of his first seven — Castro topped that feat with his second home run.

“I don’t really think it’s sustainable,” Shelton said, with a smile, “but if he wants to try, he can try.”

Castro hit three homers in the series against the New York Mets before the All-Star break, getting his first major league hit on a pinch-hit solo shot on July 9 and adding back-to-back blasts to spark a 6-5 comeback win on July 11.

“When I go up to the box, I only have one mindset, and that’s to get a good pitch and square it up right in the barrel,” Castro said. “I’ve always been a guy that swings hard and I want to hit every pitch and every ball that I can get as hard as I can. If I get a good pitch and I square it up in the barrel, I’m going to hit it as hard as I can, and it’s going to go out.”

Shelton sees a carryover of confidence in Castro, who was 0 for 5 in two games against the Brewers before turning on Eric Lauer’s 3-2 changeup for a 437-foot homer in the seventh. After John Nogowski singled to start the ninth, Castro drove Brewers closer Josh Hader’s 2-0 slider 410 feet into the left field bleachers.

“He’s got a ton of confidence,” Shelton said. “The only thing we’ve really talked to him about is make sure he’s the same guy here that he is in Altoona — because in Altoona, he’s a leader. And he plays with a lot of energy. He continues to play with energy here. That’s really all we’ve asked.”

The Pirates (38-63) desperately need that energy after the trades of Frazier, right-handed reliever Clay Holmes and lefty starter Tyler Anderson the past three days. The loss was their third consecutive, dropping them 21½ games behind the NL Central-leading Brewers (60-42).

Milwaukee teed off early on Pirates starter Max Kranick, who was recalled Wednesday from Triple-A Indianapolis and allowed six runs on 10 hits in five innings.

The Brewers took a 1-0 lead in the first when Kolten Wong hit a leadoff single, advance to second on a Willy Adames single and scored on Avisail Garcia’s single to center.

Kranick (1-2) retired the next seven batters before giving up a leadoff double to Omar Narvaez in the fourth. With two outs and runners on first and third, Lorenzo Cain roped a two-run double to right to give the Brewers a 3-0 edge.

“I think the one that sticks out more to me is the Cain one in the fourth inning there,” Kranick said. “I need to find a way to get him out. I worked hard to get to that point, to get two outs.”

Kranick gave up back-to-back singles to start the sixth and then hit Cain with a pitch to the ribs to load the bases. Luis Urias followed with a two-run double to left, lifting the Brewers to a 5-0 lead. Chasen Shreve replaced Kranick and struck out pinch hitter Jackie Bradley Jr. before Wong hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Cain and make it 6-0.

Adrian Houser (7-5), meantime, kept the Pirates’ bats mostly silent. He allowed only two hits — both singles by Ke’Bryan Hayes — while striking out two and walking one in five innings.

It wasn’t until the lefty Lauer replaced Houser in the sixth that they got going. Hayes drew a one-out walk, Reynolds ripped a double to the left field corner and Polanco walked to load the bases. But Nogowski went down looking on an outside cutter, staring in disbelief at the called strike by home plate umpire James Hoye. Jacob Stallings popped out to second to end the scoring threat.

The Brewers increased their lead in the seventh, after shortstop Kevin Newman made a wide throw to first on a grounder by Garcia, who scored on Taylor’s single to make it 7-0.

That’s when the Castro show took over, and history was made.

“Truthfully speaking, I was not aware of the 23 innings and us not being able to score before that at-bat,” Castro said. “But I’ll tell you this: From a ballplayer’s perspective, whether it’s me or anyone else, anytime that you could motivate or inspire the team or just ignite a spark in the dugout to get things rolling, it’s always huge for the team. It’s always a blessing for the team.

“For me to be able to hit these home runs and start getting some runs on the scoreboard, whether it’s through me or anyone else, it’s just a great feeling. It motivates. It inspires. It ignites something in the dugout that helps everyone else on the team. I’m just grateful, grateful that it was me.”