Colin Moran's double in 10th inning lifts Pirates to win over Brewers

Apr. 19—Colin Moran had put the Pittsburgh Pirates on the scoreboard with an opposite-field, three-run home run in the third inning. When he came to bat in the top of the 10th, the left-hander was looking for a pitch to pull.

With Bryan Reynolds starting extra innings on second base, Moran was looking for a pitch that would, at worst, advance the runner. Instead, he got the best-case scenario when Milwaukee Brewers reliever J.P. Feyereisen threw a slider Moran roped to right field.

Moran's double scored Reynolds for the go-ahead run, and reliever Richard Rodriguez closed out the Brewers for a 6-5 win in 10 innings Sunday afternoon at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

"Anytime you can do something to get the run across the board, it always feels great," said Moran, who went 2 for 5 with four RBIs. "I think we just had a good team win, and it feels good to contribute."

The Pirates (7-9) moved out of last place in the NL Central and ended a 12-game streak of losing in extra innings. After losing six consecutive games, the Pirates have won a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, split a four-game series with the San Diego Padres and, now, won a series for the first time in Milwaukee since Sept. 14-16, 2018. The Pirates are off Monday, then play three games at Detroit followed by three games at Minnesota.

"I think it's big," Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. "We're on a 10-game road trip, and when you win the first series against a really good club ... it's important for us."

The Brewers (8-7) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when first baseman Daniel Vogelbach hit the first of two home runs, a 397-foot shot to right-center off starter Chad Kuhl, and Travis Shaw's double down the right field line scored Avisail Garcia.

That upped Kuhl's runs allowed in the first inning this season to 10. The right-hander, however, rebounded behind a strong slider to allow three runs on three hits with one walk and six strikeouts on 97 pitches in five innings. It was his deepest outing and the most pitches by a Pirates starter this season. Shelton called Kuhl's stuff "the best that it's been all year."

"I've got to be better from the start," Kuhl said, "but the rest of the way it was completely fine and back to normal."

The Pirates took the lead in the third, when Phillip Evans drew a two-out walk, Reynolds (2 for 3 with two RBIs) followed with a double to right and Moran hit his fourth home run, a three-run opposite-field shot off Freddy Peralta to make it 3-2.

Garcia hit a 3-2 slider for his third homer in the third to tie the score. Kuhl settled down after that, retiring the next six batters before giving up a double to Jackie Bradley Jr. in the fifth. Kuhl got Vogelbach swinging on a 3-2 slider, then got Garcia to ground out to short to end the inning.

The Pirates got two runners on against reliever Angel Perdomo in the sixth when Erik Gonzalez hit a leadoff single and Michael Perez drew a two-out walk, but Brad Boxberger came in and struck out pinch hitter Wilmer Difo for the final out to keep the score tied.

That changed in the seventh, when Adam Frazier hit a leadoff single off Boxberger and Reynolds blasted a homer into the right field upper deck to give the Pirates a 5-3 lead. Reynolds knew it was gone.

"That was about as well-struck as you can hit it," Shelton said.

Waiting in the on-deck circle, Moran had the best view in the house for Reynolds' homer, though he questioned the Statcast estimate of 436 feet: "It was a bomb. I think they shorted him on the distance. I heard it was like 430 or something. It had to go further than that."

Kuhl, finished for the day by then, was in awe while watching Reynolds' homer on television from the weight room.

"That was a moonshot. That was unbelievable," Kuhl said. "I knew it was gone. I don't know what he was thinking, but I didn't even know where that was gonna land. That was an incredible shot and, obviously, a big spot in the game, too."

The Brewers, however, tied it in the bottom of the seventh. Jackie Bradley Jr. laid a bunt down the third-base line and beat a barehanded throw by Gonzalez, and Vogelbach followed by smacking Chris Stratton's 2-1 fastball 411 feet to center for his second homer.

From there, the game became a battle of the bullpens. Kyle Crick pitched a scoreless eighth, and Rodriguez retired the final six batters in his first appearance since Tuesday.

With Jackie Bradley Jr. on second in the 10th, Rodriguez (1-0) got Vogelbach to pop out to center, Garcia to fly out to right and struck out Shaw to end the game.

"Obviously, it's good to win series," said Reynolds, who switched from left field to center in the sixth inning in a move that could foreshadow his future position. "We had a rough start, to answer back the way we have speaks a lot to who we are as a team. We'll just keep it going."

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .