Devin Williams walks another tightrope but the Brewers hold off the Pirates to snap a six-game losing skid
In few avenues is patience more of a virtue than in baseball.
The Milwaukee Brewers exercised it to success Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates at the plate. They hope that doing so over the course of an entire regular season will lead to similar fruition.
A four-walk first inning against Pirates starter Rich Hill laid the foundation for a nail-biting 5-4 win at American Family Field that snapped a six-game losing streak for the Brewers and vaulted them back into first place at 35-34.
With two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the first, the Brewers started a rally from scratch with three walks and a catcher’s interference leading to a run, then Blake Perkins came through with a two-run single for a 3-0 lead despite only getting one hit in the inning.
A William Contreras RBI double in the fourth and Joey Wiemer solo homer in the sixth provided just enough insurance to stave off a rally from the Pirates in the sixth and seventh innings.
BOX SCORE; Brewers 5, Pirates 4
Julio Teheran, meanwhile, was excellent once again.
The Brewers righthander went six innings allowing only two runs, marking the fifth time in as many starts since signing with the team he has gone at least five innings allowing no more than two runs.
Teheran faced just two over the minimum, striking out three and walking only one while surrendering just one hit, a Carlos Santana solo homer to lead off the second.
Teheran’s ERA through five outings as a Brewer now sits at a paltry 1.78.
And this time, although just barely, Milwaukee made good on his excellence.
The Pirates scored twice against reliever Elvis Peguero in the seventh on a Ke’Bryan Hayes single, but Perkins threw out Josh Palacios at third on the play to help thwart what could have been a bigger rally.
Devin Williams got back in the saddle after the roughest outing of his career Tuesday in Minnesota and walked another tightrope to pick up the save.
Williams walked Jack Suwinski with one out, then Josh Palacios crushed a double to the wall in left-center to put the tying run on third and go-ahead run in scoring position.
The Brewers closer buckled down to strike out Hayes looking and Jason Delay swinging for a much-needed win.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers beat Pirates for first in NL Central to snap losing streak
