MILWAUKEE (AP) — William Contreras went 3 for 5 with four RBIs and hit one of Milwaukee’s five homers off Martín Pérez in the Brewers’ 10-2 blowout of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.
The NL Central-leading Brewers won two of three from the Pirates before beginning a season-long, nine-game trip Friday at Houston. The Brewers also will visit Miami and Boston before coming back home May 27 for a four-game series with the Chicago Cubs that marks ex-Brewers manager Craig Counsell’s return to Milwaukee.
Gary Sánchez, Sal Frelick, Joey Ortiz and Jackson Chourio also homered off Pérez, who gave up 11 hits and nine runs before leaving with nobody out in the sixth inning.
The Brewers tied a franchise record for homers off a single pitcher in one game. They also hit five home runs off Cincinnati’s Chris Reitsma in 2002 and Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene in 2022.
This was the Brewers’ first five-homer game since a 9-0 rout of the New York Mets on April 4, 2023.
The Brewers nearly went deep a sixth time. Pirates center fielder Michael A. Taylor reached his left arm over the wall to rob Willy Adames of a potential homer in the eighth inning.
Contreras put Milwaukee ahead for good with a three-run homer in the third, and he also singled in the fifth and tripled in the seventh. Contreras has reached base in each of his past 23 games and has a nine-game hitting streak.
Frelick has homered in back-to-back games. Before his two-run shot in the second inning of a 4-3 victory over the Pirates on Tuesday, Frelick hadn’t gone deep since Aug. 7 of last season.
Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen went 3 for 4, homered and scored both the Pirates' runs.
Contreras’ opposite-field shot over the right-field wall opened the scoring for Milwaukee and was part of a five-run outburst in the third inning. Sanchez added a two-run homer later in the third.
Frelick added a two-out solo shot in the fourth to extend Milwaukee’s lead to 6-1. Ortiz made it 7-1 by leading off the fifth with a 425-foot drive over the left-field wall. Chourio extended Milwaukee’s lead to 9-1 in the sixth with his two-run shot, a 441-foot blast to left-center that ended Pérez’s day.
Five days after allowing just two hits over six shutout innings in his major league debut, Brewers starter Robert Gasser (2-0) gave up just one run in five innings while allowing eight hits. Gasser struck out two and walked one.
Transactions
The Brewers promoted outfielder Chris Roller from Triple-A Nashville and optioned infielder Oliver Dunn to Nashville.
The Pirates recalled pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski from Triple-A Indianapolis and optioned pitcher Quinn Priester to Indianapolis.
Trainer's room
Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins says he's planning to travel with the team on its nine-game trip that begins this weekend even as he's on the injured list after straining his right hamstring Monday. Hoskins is expected to miss two to four weeks.
“I’ve been around enough guys with hamstring issues to know they’re pretty fickle and each one is just so, so different,” Hoskins said. “So I think all in all, the two to four weeks is much better than it could have been. I’m just bummed and disappointed to not be out there with these guys as we’re trying to continue to stack some wins and stack some series wins.”
Up next
Pirates: Begin a four-game road series with the Chicago Cubs on Thursday. Jared Jones (2-4, 2.68 ERA) will start for the Pirates in the opener.
Brewers: Off Thursday before beginning a three-game series at Houston. Freddy Peralta (3-1, 3.63) will start for the Brewers on Friday.