In the midst of another long losing stretch, Roansy Contreras stepped to the mound and stopped the bleeding.
The Pittsburgh Pirates offense managed to get ahead early this time when Oneil Cruz lead off the game with a triple and Ke’Bryan Hayes then lined the first pitch he saw into right field for a quick 1-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, Tucupita Marcano hit the Pirates’ second triple with one out. One batter later, Greg Allen laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt that scored Marcano easily.
That would be all the offense Contreras needed on the night as he managed to cover more innings than Bryse Wilson and Tyler Beede pitched in the previous two games combined.
In his last start, Contreras managed to pitch seven innings, giving up only two earned runs against the Atlanta Braves. Facing another NL East opponent, Roansy brought his A-game, throwing five scoreless innings. He struck out seven batters, throwing 57 of his 89 pitches for strikes.
Contreras continued to lean heavily on a Fastball-Slider combination that accounted for 81 of his 89 pitches, with eight curveballs scattered in. His repertoire was highly effective on this night generating an average exit velocity of 86.4 MPH (per Baseball Savant) which was roughly 5 MPH below his season average. The league average is 88.4 MPH.
Roansy would leave after the fifth inning with a 2-0 lead in hand.
Come the top of the sixth, Bryan Reynolds joined the Trip-Trip-Triple party, hitting the Pirates third triple of the evening and his fourth on the year. This time the Pirates decided to add more runs on top. Michael Chavis came to the plate and singled to left field to score Reynolds. Two batters later with men on the corners and no outs, Marcano hit a groundball that would nick off of Phillies’ starter Noah Syndergaard’s glove. Jean Segura fielded it and tried to throw home, but Chavis slid in ahead of the tag. Allen reached on a force out, then was caught stealing. With two outs, Bligh Madris hit his second double in as many games to score Rodolfo Castro and take a 5-0 lead.
The on-again, off-again bullpen then shut things down by tossing four of their own scoreless innings. Manny Banuelos threw two innings only allowing one hit. Duane Underwood Jr. threw a scoreless eighth inning on six pitches and miraculously didn’t come out for a second inning. Manager Derek Shelton went with Wil Crowe, who finished things off quickly, throwing only thirteen pitches with one walk.
With the victory, Roansy Contreras ties Mitch Keller for the team lead among starters with four wins. They only trail Crowe and Dillon Peters, who each have five wins.
Pirates @ Brewers
Time: 8:10 PM EST
Pirates Starter: Bryse Wilson (2-8, 6.01)
Brewers Starter: Corbin Burnes (9-6, 2.84)
LINEUPS:
Pirates
Monday in Milwaukee.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/NRh6KVvOvp
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 29, 2022
Brewers
1. Christian Yelich (L) LF
2. Willy Adames (R) SS
3. Rowdy Tellez (L) 1B
4. Hunter Renfroe (R) RF
5. Kolten Wong (L) 2B
6. Andrew McCutchen (R) DH
7. Jace Peterson (L) 3B
8. Omar Narvaez (L) C
9. Garrett Mitchell (L) CF
UPDATE: Suwinski up. Madris down
UPDATE #2: Heineman scratched. Delay in the lineup
