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Steady approach helps Milwaukee Brewers get series win over Pirates

It was an afternoon of sticking to the process to cap off August for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Now it’s on to September – or, to roll with the very lingo of the players in the Brewers clubhouse – ‘Craigember.’

“It’s a position that we’ve been in before,” said Brewers manager Craig Counsell, after whom the month is named. “We know there’s some urgency to how we play, and I think that’s a good feeling.

“There’s a lot of new guys here, but certainly we’ve got a lot of guys who have been through this before and you know that when you walk into this month it’s got to be a good month.”

A 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates gave the Brewers on Wednesday a homestand featuring two series victories, only the second time since July that they have won consecutive series. As Milwaukee departed American Family Field for a road trip featuring stops in Arizona and Colorado, it did so still trailing in the National League wild card standings but feeling upbeat about making a run.

It’s something the Brewers did in 2018, going 20-7 to finish the year, and in 2019, when they won 18 of 20 to earn a playoff spot. Even 2021 saw them go 13-5 to effectively seal the division by mid-September before taking their foot off the gas pedal in the final weeks.

“Challenges are really good for us as a team,” said starting pitcher Freddy Peralta, a member of each of those squads. “We’ve been having that the last two, three years. We always play better when we’re in that kind of spot. We just have to keep doing it.”

These two series wins came against two teams that aren’t remotely in a playoff race in the Pirates and Chicago Cubs, but struggles against both teams even just earlier this month showed nothing comes easy.

To take the series on Wednesday, the Brewers had to grind at the plate. One tough, productive plate appearance after another the Brewers finally broke down the bullpen of their last place-residing visitors.

Twenty-three batters came to the plate from the fifth through the seventh, the game’s three decisive innings, for the Brewers.

“It was kind of ‘next guy up,'” Counsell said. “Pass the torch type of thing. They did a nice job of moving the line and we took advantage of some guys struggling to throw strikes a little bit.”

It wasn’t always pretty. An error helped the Brewers tie the game. Another gave them the lead. Another pair of runs scored on walks. The Brewers had just one extra base hit.

No style points were needed, though.

BOX SCORE:Brewers 6, Pirates 1

Zach Thompson shut Milwaukee’s offense down for four innings, allowing only three hits out of a bevy of weak contact, before giving way to the Pirates bullpen to begin the fifth.

With Manny Bañuelos on the mound and two runners on base thanks to a Ke’Bryan Hayes error, Willy Adames capped off a 10-pitch at-bat with an RBI double to right to tie the game at 1-1.

Facing Miguel Yajure in the sixth, Keston Hiura led off by reaching on a two-base error by shortstop Oneil Cruz. He moved to third base on a grounder to first by Luis Urías and scored one batter later when Omar Narváez’s grounder to a drawn-in Kevin Newman at second base was briefly juggled.

Ten Brewers came to the plate and seven consecutive reached base in a four-run bottom of the seventh that lasted more than a half-hour and saw Pirates arms have to throw 50 pitches.

Hiura kicked off the scoring by driving in Hunter Renfroe with a single that deflected off the glove of Cruz and Urías followed with an RBI single of his own to make it 4-1, Milwaukee.

Narváez walked on nine pitches and Garrett Mitchell and Christian Yelich both followed with bases on balls with the bases loaded to drive in two more runs.

Peralta went five innings striking out three and allowing just a solo homer to Ben Gamel in the fourth.

He was removed from the game with a relatively low pitch count for the second straight outing despite throwing more than 90 pitches in his two starts prior to this stretch. The Brewers appear intent on being cautious with him after he missed two months with a shoulder injury before returning in early August.

“I think it’s where we’re at with Freddy right now. We’re going to be cautious with it,” Counsell said. “I thought he pitched really well today. His curveball was really good and his off-speed was good again, but we’re going to be cautious with Freddy.”

Peralta has made a career out of being one of the best in baseball at limiting base hits to an extreme. That was not so much the case prior to his injury, but since returning, opponents are once again having a tough time generating tallies in the hit column. After allowing two hits Wednesday, Peralta has given up just 14 base knocks in 29 2/3 innings since his return.

“He was down velocity today, there’s no question about it, but that’s what I loved about how he pitched; I think he really made pitches today and he could pitch like that,” Counsell said. “He still had it in the tank a little bit, he just didn’t get to points in the game where he needed it.”

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