PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers insist they’re not suffering from sort of a Josh Hader hangover.
Sure looks like it though.
Bryan Reynolds raced home on a wild pitch with one out in the 10th inning, lifting the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-4 victory on Thursday to complete a three-game sweep of Milwaukee.
Reynolds led off the bottom of the 10th by tying the game with a ground-rule double to right field that scored rookie Tucupita Maracano. Reynolds advanced to third on a fly ball to right by Ke’Bryan Hayes and scored when a 0-2 curveball by Milwaukee reliever Matt Bush (2-2) skipped by catcher Victor Caratini.
“I’m trying to bury it but obviously not that much,” Bush said. “It just got away from me a little bit.”
The Brewers fell to 0-3 since trading Hader, their four-time All-Star closer, to San Diego on Monday. Milwaukee failed to hold on to multiple-run leads in all three games at PNC Park, though starter Brandon Woodruff downplayed the idea that Hader’s departure played a role in getting swept at PNC Park for the first time in two years.
“When you come to the baseball field, regardless of who is in this room, this is our team and we’ve got a dang good team,” Woodruff said. “We’re here for each other, we’re going to play for each other and we can’t do anything about (who is in the room and who is not) other than going out and doing our job.”
Milwaukee took the lead in the top of the 10th when Duane Underwood Jr. (1-3) hit Kolten Wong with the bases loaded and two outs.
Leftfielder Ben Gamel then made a diving grab on a sinking liner by Hunter Renfroe to escape further damage, and the Pirates responded in the bottom of the inning behind Reynolds, who hit a walk-off home run leading off the bottom of the ninth in an 8-7 win on Wednesday.
“It says a lot about…