MILWAUKEE -- Things are changing in Pittsburgh. In what has been a historically great NL Central to begin the season, the Pirates are sticking around. And then some.
That was on full display in the Pirates’ 6-3 win over the Brewers in 10 innings Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 40,408 at American Family Field.
Bryan Reynolds provided the go-ahead single in the 10th before Nick Gonzales tacked on a pair of insurance runs to secure the series win in Milwaukee.
It’s just the third time the Pirates (16-11) have won each of their first three series against division opponents since the NL Central formed in 1994. The others were in 2014 and 2018 (first four series), with the former being a playoff team that finished with 88 wins, and the latter the last Pirates squad to finish with a winning record (82-79).
Pittsburgh is now 6-2 against the division this year, all of which have come on the road. The Bucs won seven games on the road all year against NL Central opponents last season.
But one of the biggest reasons to believe this Pirates team is different is the fact that they had lost eight straight to the back-to-back-to-back division champion Brewers before this series. In order to end this streak, they had to take down a pair of All-Star starters in Brandon Woodruff and Jacob Misiorowski behind good pitching of their own -- a nearly perfect outing from Paul Skenes on Friday night before another strong outing from Mitch Keller on Saturday.
Spencer Horwitz got the scoring started Saturday with an RBI single in the fourth inning before Konnor Griffin, who set career highs in hits (three) and RBIs (three) in the opener on his birthday, drove home the second run of the frame with an opposite-field knock. Horwitz tacked on again in the sixth with a sacrifice fly, but that was all Pittsburgh could manage until extras.
In a game that may have gone differently just a season ago, the Pirates didn’t fold when the Brewers matched them in the run column in both the fourth and sixth frames. It’s that type of mentality and ability to overcome adversity in this first month that has separated this Pirates team from ones of old.
“That’s Pittsburgh, isn’t it? That’s the identity that I love, and I think that we do have a lot of gritty, tough dirtbag ballplayers,” manager Don Kelly said. “They continue to compete. … We’ve been able to bounce back from a lot of different things this year so far. And it’s been a lot of fun to watch."