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Pirates finally reach 10 victories, defeat Brewers

Jerry DiPaola
| Sunday, August 30, 2020 5:27 p.m.
AP
The Pirates’ Josh Bell hits a two-run homer during the fourth inning against the Brewers on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020, in Milwaukee.

If the Milwaukee Brewers want to give away that Toyota Highlander parked high above the field at Miller Park, they may want to find a good auto body repairman.

The vehicle Josh Bell hit Sunday in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 5-1 victory might have an ugly dent in it.

“That ball was absolutely crushed,” Pirates pitcher Steven Brault said, “so you don’t want that one.”

“I’ve been trying to hit that for three years,” Bell said.

Bell turned around a 96-mph fastball from starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff in the fourth inning and launched it 428 feet, banging it off the hood of a 2020 Highlander the Brewers want to give away when one of their own hits it.

But the bigger story is the ball left Bell’s bat at 109 mph, giving him homers in back-to-back games (four for the season) and offering more hope his month-long slump may be ending.

In the past four games, Bell has six hits in 13 at-bats, two homers, four RBIs and only two strikeouts, lifting his batting average to .218 after it fell as low as .161 on Aug. 1.

“I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball hard, starting to come out of the slump a little bit.”

Ever the perfectionist, he added, “I don’t have everything I want to show for it.”

But there are good signs that Bell is regaining the timing at the plate that has eluded him for much of the season.

“As long as I can stay on the same brain wavelength of starting on time, being on time with the fastball, that’s when the game comes slow for me,” he said. “When things are going well, I can barrel balls. It just feels like everything is a little bit slower. Throw your hands at the ball and go from there.

“It seemed like at times you can throw a ball down the middle, and I was mis-hitting it into the ground. It doesn’t seem like that’s the case right now.”

Shelton said, “The timing’s better. He’s being more consistent in his movement.”

Gregory Polanco also homered, his fifth among only nine hits this season, and the Pirates received timely RBI singles from Kevin Newman and Adam Frazier. Bell’s home run broke a 1-1 tie, but manager Derek Shelton said the highlights for him were the two walks Erik Gonzalez and Frazier forced from Woodruff before Newman’s single.

Gonzalez rallied from an 0-2 count, and Frazier forced Woodruff to throw seven pitches in his final inning of work.

“Get the pitch count up and get him out of there,” Frazier said.

The victory broke a seven-game Pirates losing streak at Miller Park, but it was only their 10th of the season. The Pirates (10-21) are the last MLB team to reach double digits.

After Richard Rodriguez allowed a winning home run to Eric Sogard on Saturday night, the Pirates’ bullpen threw six scoreless innings.

Kyle Crick pitched an inning in his first appearance since July 27 after coming off the injured list Saturday. Nick Tropeano and Geoff Hartlieb followed, and Rodriguez recorded the final three outs.

“The true testament of Richie as a person,” Shelton said, “is the first thing he said to me when he walked into the park (Sunday) was, ‘Give me the ball.’

“He went through the heart of the order. It was nice to see.”

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