Yelich came to close to being out on his 3-run homer, here’s his story
Christian Yelich came to close to being out on his 3-run homer against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday May 22, 2025, during an 8-5 Brewers win.
PITTSBURGH – A cursory glance at the box score on Sunday, May 25 will show the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5, at PNC Park.
But looking beyond the numbers, manager Pat Murphy saw something he really liked.
“There were remnants of that displaced edge,” he said, harkening back to his statements after a loss to the Chicago Cubs early in the month. And since that series the Brewers have indeed been up and down due to myriad injuries, an inconsistent offense and some spotty defense.
But in this one, Milwaukee battled back after it could have easily folded by scoring three times in the eighth inning and ultimately hanging on to win for the first time in 24 opportunities when trailing after seven innings.
BOX SCORE: Brewers 6, Pirates 5
Rookie Caleb Durbin and Brice Turang delivered the decisive blows, but there were others like another rookie, Logan Henderson, and Abner Uribe who stepped forward and helped the Brewers earn a series split with bookend victories in the four-game set
“I mean, we didn’t have to win this game the way it was going,” Murphy continued. Four hits (into the eighth) and three runs in the first and then looking behind us – we’ve seen this a bunch this year. And I was really just, like, sick to my stomach.
“And then, bam, bam, bam. You just knew those guys (would deliver).”
The eighth inning featured several terrific at-bats
Milwaukee scored three times in the first inning off starter Bailey Falter, then managed two singles, two walks and no runs over the next six as Pittsburgh came roaring back to take a 5-3 lead.
With Ryan Borucki on the mound for the eighth, Rhys Hoskins walked and Isaac Collins – who’d had a rough day in left field defensively to that point – doubled.
Sal Frelick flew out to right, leaving the inning to Durbin, who was 0 for 3 to that point but had three hits and reached base all four times up in Saturday’s 2-1 loss.
He fouled off each of Borucki’s first five pitches until the left-hander left his sixth offering out over the plate that he turned on and hit off the wall in left, scoring Hoskins and Collins to tie it up.
“I faced Borucki a couple days ago,” he said. “Saw a lot of sliders, so knew he likes to go to it. Just tried to get it up and luckily was able to get one over the plate, drive it and get those runs in.”
That brought up Turang, who was 1 for his previous 24. He fell behind in the count, 1-2, worked it to 3-2 and then rifled a double down the left-field line on Borucki’s seventh pitch to drive in Durbin with what ended up being the winner.
“It’s big to get that run,” Turang said. “But Durbin to move the chain, those guys to have good at-bats was the reason why I even got an opportunity. They gave me a chance, and I’m happy I delivered for them.”
Indeed, Hoskins and Collins both also delivered positive results in two-strike counts – exactly what needs to happen for an offense that features very little slug.
“It was what was needed,” Murphy said. “We used to be a team that did what was needed, you know? And that’s how we rolled and we played every pitch. It seems like because we haven’t lived up to our own expectations and that we’ve kind of played not to lose instead of just to win.
“Any team in MLB can beat you. We’ve known that. But when you start having expectations of yourself and looking at the pennant race in May, that’s just not the way to do it. It’s hard to escape that. but to see this today gives them a little bit of, ‘Yeah, that’s how we’ve got to play.’
“Hopefully they take from it.”
Logan Henderson keeps answering the bell
Henderson, the right-hander, was in line for the victory after his five-inning, one-run, 89-pitch outing, which would have made him the first pitcher to win each of his first four starts in the majors since Chase Anderson in 2014.
Alas, it wasn’t to be as Nick Mears allowed the Pirates to tie it four batters into the sixth before Jared Koenig surrendered the lead in the seventh.
Even still, Henderson was solid in allowing a pesky Pittsburgh team to score just once on white-hot Oneil Cruz’s leadoff home run in the third – a 122.9-mph missile that was the hardest hit in the Statcast era (since 2015), traveled 432 feet and bounced into the Allegheny River.
Jackson Chourio ran a mile in center to chase down Jared Triolo’s blooper with the bases loaded to keep the Pirates off the board in the second, then Henderson took matters into his own hands in the fifth by first striking out Cruz and then catching Joey Bart looking at a called third to end his day.
“He emptied the tank,” Murphy said. “And that’s on four days’ rest. We could tell from the first changeup he threw, ‘Eh, that’s not normal.’ It took everything he had to get to 89 today. But, yeah, that shows you what he’s about – five innings, bobbed and weaved and didn’t give in. Huge pitch to Cruz, that fastball up.
“I think he was great.”
With six strikeouts, Henderson now has 29 through his first four starts. Only Freddy Peralta (35 in 2018) has recorded more in franchise history.
“There’s always progress to be made, and I’m going to be critical of myself after every outing,” Henderson said. “I feel like there’s a lot that I could do better. But I feel like when I’ve needed to make big pitches in big moments I have, and credit to the guys in the ‘pen, credit to William (Contreras), credit to the bats.
“It’s easy to throw when you have a really good defense behind you. I wanted to give the boys some length today and only got five, but that’s the next step, is being able to go deeper into games. So, there’s definitely progress but more progress to be made.”
Abner Uribe rebounded nicely
Uribe’s previous appearance in the series went miserably, as he surrendered the game-tying homer to Cruz in the ninth and then threw a wild pitch that allowed the winning run to score in the 10th two nights earlier.
It seemed as though things might be heading that way again on Sunday when he took the mound in the eighth.
Tommy Pham lined a leadoff single to center, and then was balked to second. After a strikeout of Jared Triolo the Brewers elected to put Cruz on first rather than allow him to swing away and potentially tie it or put the Pirates in the lead again.
“Who does that?” quipped Murphy. “That’s ridiculous, to face (Andrew McCutchen).”
But Uribe helped himself by quickly spinning, firing and picking Pham off second. He followed by striking out McCutchen, and the stage was then set for Trevor Megill in the ninth.
Megill allowed a two-out infield single and a stolen base left the winning run at the plate in the form of Adam Frazier, who’d logged seven total hits and been on base nine times since Thursday.
He ultimately grounded out routinely to Turang, Megill had his ninth save and the Brewers were spared from going four games under .500 for the first time this season.
“Thinking about your Uribe, that’s gutsy,” Murphy said. “That’s why that kid is, I think, the right person. And then Megill, that was reminiscent of our closers of the past.”
What time is the Brewers game today?
Time: 1:35 p.m.
What channel is the Brewers game on today?
TV channel: FanDuel Sports Wisconsin
Brewers lineup
- Jackson Chourio CF
- William Contreras C
- Christian Yelich DH
- Rhys Hoskins 1B
- Isaac Collins LF
- Sal Frelick RF
- Caleb Durbin 3B
- Brice Turang 2B
- Joey Ortiz SS
Pirates lineup
- Oneil Cruz CF
- Andrew McCutchen DH
- Spencer Horwitz 1B
- Joey Bart C
- Alexander Canario RF
- Adam Frazier 2B
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa SS
- Tommy Pham LF
- Jared Triolo 3B
Brewers schedule
Brewers vs. Red Sox, 1:10 p.m. May 26. Milwaukee RHP Chad Patrick (2-4, 3.23) vs. Boston LHP Garrett Crochet (4-3, 1.98). TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers vs. Red Sox, 6:40 p.m. May 27. Milwaukee RHP Aaron Civale (0-1, 9.00) vs. Boston TBA. TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers vs. Red Sox, 12:10 p.m. May 28. Milwaukee RHP Freddy Peralta (5-3, 2.55) vs. Boston RHP Bryan Bello (2-1, 4.08) TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
