Pirates homer five times, including Bart grand slam, in rout of NL Central-leading Brewers
MILWAUKEE — Joey Bart hit a grand slam and the Pittsburgh Pirates scored six runs in the sixth inning to storm past the Milwaukee Brewers 12-2 on Tuesday night.
All-Star Bryan Reynolds, Rowdy Tellez, Jack Suwinski and Joshua Palacios also homered for the Pirates, who won in Milwaukee for just the 12th time in 42 games since 2019. The five home runs were a season-high surrendered by Brewers pitching.
Quinn Priester (1-5) pitched six innings in relief to get the win, giving up one earned run and four hits with eight strikeouts.
Bart’s second career grand slam and the team’s seventh this season, matching the Brewers major league-leading total, came off Colin Rea (8-3), who pitched seven scoreless innings in his previous start on Wednesday at Colorado.
Reynolds hit a two-run home run, his 17th of the season, with two outs in the third. Tellez hit his 100th career home run in the seventh. Suwinski connected for his ninth of the season and Palacios his second in the eighth.
The NL Central Division-leading Brewers, who drew three walks and stole two bases in the first but failed to score against Pirates opener Josh Fleming, tied it in their half of the third on run-scoring hits by William Contreras and Blake Perkins.
The Pirates activated Priester from the 15-day injured list (lat injury) and optioned OF Edward Olivares to Triple-A Indianapolis. LHP Justin Bruihl, who was designated for assignment on July 7, cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Indianapolis.
Pirates: Oneil Cruz, who was removed for a pinch hitter in the eighth inning of Monday night’s game because of hamstring tightness, was out of the lineup.
LHP Martín Pérez (1-4, 4.85 ERA), who has received one run or less of support in eight of his last nine starts, will pitch for the Pirates. RHP Tobias Myers (5-3, 3.52) gets the start for the Brewers.
