Pirates lose 13-inning home-run fest against Brewers

They overcame an early five-run deficit and took the lead from down two runs in the eighth inning. But that only made Saturday that much tougher to swallow for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Orlando Arcia hit his second homer of the game in the 13th inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pirates, 12-10.

Arcia turned on an Alex McRae two-seamer – the 499th pitch of the game – and struck it 103.8 mph, driving it 413 feet into the bullpens in left-center with Hernan Perez aboard to lift Milwaukee to a long, wild win.

“Just how it works sometimes,” said McRae (0-1), who threw 63 pitches in three innings. “I gave it everything I had. I felt like I had gave us a good chance to win, kept us in it as long as I could. Hats off to (Arcia). He hit a good pitch, and (the Brewers) outlasted me.”

It was Arcia’s eighth home run of the season, and it capped the fourth lead change after Milwaukee took a 5-0 advantage through 2½ innings against beleaguered starter Nick Kingham. The Pirates answered with seven consecutive runs until reigning National League MVP Christian Yelich hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning.

Then, after Starling Marte put the Pirates ahead again with a three-run homer off Brewers closer Josh Hader in the eighth, Felipe Vazquez suffered his first blown save in 15 opportunities this season when Keston Hiura hit a two-run homer to left.

“I should have ended it there,” Vazquez said. “I should have made a better pitch than that, but it happens.”

Felipe Vazquez after his first blown save of the season in the Pirates 12-10 loss in 13 innings pic.twitter.com/vKpt0fK9Ey

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) June 2, 2019

The Pirates allowed another double-digit score from an opponent, the fifth over the past 10 games. It was another reminder of their pitching issues after they had the highest ERA (6.19) in the majors during May.

Josh Bell went 0 for 6 (albeit with a walk and a run) after he wrapped up one of the most productive months in baseball history the previous night.

Arcia’s multihomer game was his first — he hit one off Kingham with Eric Thames aboard in the second. Kingham was charged with five runs on six hits and two walks in three innings.

“I feel like I got ahead early and kind of dictated the way the counts went, (but) they hit my mistakes,” said Kingham, who is unsure if he will stay in the rotation. “A couple things didn’t go my way, but overall I felt like I attacked the zone and did what I was trying to do tonight.”

The game lasted 5 hours, 23 minutes and had 32 hits and 24 men left on base. It featured 14 pitchers. Every Pirates reliever except for Richard Rodriguez got into the game.

“That’s got to be, time-wise, the longest game I’ve ever played,” Pirates infielder Cole Tucker said. “So it was interesting, and I felt like we had a bunch of chances to win it. Obviously, coming out on the losing end stinks — but it was a fun game up until the last couple minutes of it.”

The Pirates had a chance to win it in the bottom of the 12th when they loaded the bases with one out and Marte (4 for 6 to that point) and Bell (the hottest hitter in baseball) due to bat. But Marte chopped into a force play at home, and Bell struck out on three pitches.

Saturday, only Rookie Davis and Geoff Hartlieb (two scoreless innings each) had clean stat lines among six Pirates pitchers. Clay Holmes walked two of the three batters he faced in the sixth, Francisco Liriano relieved and served up the Yelich home run (though he was harmed by Colin Moran and Kevin Newman misplaying a foul pop-up on the prior pitch) and Vazquez blew his first save since last September.

Jose Osuna hit a pinch-hit home run, and Melky Cabrera went 2 for 4 with two runs for the Pirates (28-29), who are assured of their fourth consecutive nonwinning series regardless of what happens in the finale with Milwaukee on Sunday.

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