Brewers blow a late 4-run lead, lose 8-6 at Pittsburgh

A night after overcoming a four-run deficit late to beat Pittsburgh, the Milwaukee Brewers gave up a four-run lead of their own Tuesday night and lost to the Pirates 8-6.

The game was tied at two heading into the seventh inning. That’s when the Brewers struck, walking five-straight times to take the lead. Orlando Arcia followed that with a two-run double before Keston Huira drove in his third run of the game with a sacrifice fly. It gave Milwaukee a 6-2 lead.

But things unraveled for the Crew in the bottom of the inning. Brent Suter gave up a pair of singles, hit Adam Frazier to load the bases with no one out and then walked a run in. Milwaukee could have gotten out of the inning with no more damage but Justin Smoak threw a potential double-play ball over the head of Arcia at second base, allowing two Pirates to score. A double by Phillip Evans later tied the game.

An inning later, Frazier took Bobby Wahl deep for a two-run homer that proved to be the game-winning hit.

While Hiura had his best game of the season, going 1-for-2 and driving in the three runs, Christian Yelich’s rough start continued. He went 0-for-4 with two more strikeouts. He’s now 1-for-22 on the season, including nine strikeouts.

Milwaukee got a solid start from Josh Lindblom before he was forced to leave in the fourth inning with what the team is calling back cramps. Making his first appearance in a MLB game since 2017, and just his fifth since 2014, Lindbloom went 3 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out five.

Pittsburgh’s Derek Holland largely held Milwaukee in check over 5 2/3 innings. His lone mistake was serving up a two-run homer to Hiura in the sixth.

The Brewers dropped to 2-3 on the season. They’ll close out the three-game series with the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon.