Santana's HR in 9th inning rallies Pirates past Brewers 8-7

PITTSBURGH -- — Carlos Santana hit his eighth career walk-off home run, a two-run shot to cap a three-run ninth inning and rally the Pittsburgh Pirates past the Milwaukee Brewers 8-7 on Friday night for their fourth straight win.

With his team trailing 7-5, Andrew McCutchen drew the Pirates within one when he hit a one-out RBI double. Henry Davis grounded out and Santana, a 14-year veteran, drove a pitch from Matt Bush (0-2) deep to right field.

“I felt great for that at-bat,” Santana said. “I didn’t try to do too much and tried to get my pitch. I had a good swing, hit a home run and won the game.”

Santana celebrated by doing a dance after rounding third base and heading for home plate.

“Something happened,” he said with a smile. “I had to do it. It’s good.”

Santana also doubled twice and is 10 for 18 in his last four games while McCutchen homered among his three hits and had three RBI. The Pirates had lost 12 of 13 before their winning streak.

“It’s one of those feelings you get to experience a whole lot, so when it happens, it’s very exciting,” McCutchen said of the walk off. “It was a great comeback for us. To be able to come back shows we’re not pressing, we’re staying within ourselves. Right now, we’re just kind of letting the game come to us.”

The Pirates used RBI singles by McCutchen in the seventh and Jack Suwinski in the eighth to pull to 7-5. Suwinski had two hits.

Rookie Carmen Mlodzinski (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings for his first major-league win.

The Brewers’ Owen Miller had three hits and rookie Brice Turang hit a two-run double. Milwaukee had won four of its previous five games but fell out of a first-place tie with Cincinnati in the NL Central.

Turang’s double came in the seventh and followed an RBI double by Miller to push the Brewers’ lead to 7-3. However, the bullpen could not hold the lead as Milwaukee’s relievers had their streak of 19 consecutive scoreless innings end.

“We got to where we wanted to,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “Just, the ninth didn’t go well.”

The Brewers scored four runs off rookie Osvaldo Bido in the second inning to break a scoreless tie.

The first run came when rookie right fielder Davis misplayed Christian Yelich’s line drive into a double. William Contreras brought home a run with a fielder’s choice, Rowdy Tellez hit an RBI single and Willy Adames capped the uprising with a sacrifice fly.

The Pirates cut the deficit to one with a three-run fourth inning. McCutchen led off with a home run off the left-field foul pole before rookie Nick Gonzales hit a two-run double.

Brewers starter Freddy Peralta (6-7) allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings and has now gone seven starts since his last win on May 21.

Bido gave up four runs in 3 1/3 innings and is winless in four major-league starts.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: RHP Colin Holderman (right wrist inflammation) was activated from the 15-day injured list after missing the minimum amount of time. RHP Cody Bolton was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis. ... LF Bryan Reynolds (lower back inflammation) will take batting practice on the field Saturday for the first time since being placed on the IL on June 20.

UP NEXT

The Brewers will start RHP Corbin Burnes (5-5, 4.10 ERA) on Saturday against RHP Johan Oviedo (3-8, 4.06). Burnes, the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner, is 1/3 with a 4.81 ERA in his last eight starts. Oviedo has lost four straight starts despite a 3.42 ERA.

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