Brewers’ Harrison out-pitches Pirates’ Skenes in win
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MILWAUKEE -- Kyle Harrison struck out the final eight batters he faced, William Contreras homered and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 on Wednesday night.
Harrison (9-2) gave up one hit and one walk while striking out 10 in five innings in his first start since July 8 after an IL stint due to left forearm tightness. It was the fourth time this season and sixth time in his career he reached double digit strikeouts.
Harrison took the mound to warm up for the sixth, but abruptly left before the inning began. Milwaukee later said he had cramps in both calves. He had the second-longest strikeout streak in Brewers history behind Corbin Burnes, who tied the major league record with 10 straight in 2021.
Abner Uribe retired all three batters faced in the eighth inning, and Trevor Megill earned his 20th save with a perfect ninth.
One day after being booed by his team's fans, Christian Yelich delivered an RBI double in the fourth inning to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. Andrew Vaughn immediately added a single to right field, which sent both Yelich and William Contreras home.
They were Milwaukee's only two hits off Paul Skenes (9-10), who issued a leadoff walk to Brice Turang in the first before retiring 10 in a row. Lake Bachar, who replaced Skenes at the start of the sixth, gave up a solo home run to Contreras that put the Brewers ahead 4-0.
Endy Rodriguez hit a two-run home run in the seventh to pull the Pirates to 4-2.
Up next
Dustin May (5-7, 4.38 ERA) was set to make his first start as a Brewer on Thursday, facing Braxton Ashcraft (11-4, 3.96 ERA) in the series finale.
Osuna out
Earlier on Wednesday, the Pirates released struggling veteran designated hitter Marcell Ozuna.
The club made the move following a nightmarish stretch in which the three-time All-Star could never seem to get on track.
The Pirates promoted outfielder Ronny Simon from Triple-A Indianapolis to take his roster spot.
Pittsburgh signed Ozuna to a one-year deal worth $12 million in February, a rare free agency splurge for the budget-conscious club. The team hoped the right-handed Ozuna would help balance out a left-handed-heavy lineup.
Instead, Ozuna started slowly and never found the form that helped him hit 296 homers during previous stints with Miami, Atlanta and St. Louis.
Ozuna hit just .203 with eight home runs and 29 RBIs in 70 games with Pittsburgh and had seen his playing opportunities cut significantly in recent weeks thanks to the emergence of rookie Esmerlyn Valdez.
"Didn't have a season that he would like," manager Don Kelly said Wednesday in Milwaukee before the Pirates faced the Brewers. "Just got to a point where we felt like we needed to make a move and open up the DH spot to be able to rotate."
Ozuna has a $10.5 million salary this year. He had a mutual option of $16 million in 2027 with a $1.5 million buyout.
The decision comes on the heels of a trade deadline in which Pittsburgh, seeking to end a decade-long playoff drought, fortified its leaky bullpen with a series of moves, including acquiring reliever Luke Weaver from the New York Mets.
Kelly and general manager Ben Cherington defended Ozuna repeatedly, with Cherington expressing confidence the underlying metrics showed Ozuna was close to turning it around and Kelly praising Ozuna's influence on the club's Latin American players. But with a chance to play meaningful baseball into September on the line, the team opted to move on.
"It's a tough spot, and hate to go through it," Kelly said.
Pittsburgh also activated left-handed reliever Evan Sisk off the injured list and optioned reliever Wilber Dotel to Triple-A Indianapolis on Wednesday.