For as ugly as Monday night's loss ended, that's how resilient the Pirates' Tuesday night victory over the Milwaukee Brewers by an 8-6 score at PNC Park was.
The scoring started in the bottom of the fourth, when newly-acquired Guillermo Heredia slapped a two-run single to left field to give the Pirates (2-3) a light 2-0 advantage.
That advantage disappeared in the top of the sixth, when Brewers (2-3) second baseman Keston Hiura blasted a two-run homerun, his first of the season, to tie the game at 2-2.
The wheels seemed as if they fell off in the top of the seventh, when reliever Miguel Del Pozo, making his first appearance for Pittsburgh, surrendered four runs to give Milwaukee a 6-2 lead.
In the next half-inning, Pittsburgh staged a comeback. After loading the bases with no outs, Kevin Newman walked to drive in a run and make it 6-3.
Josh Bell popped out, but Colin Moran grounded a ball to first baseman Justin Smoak, who overthrew the shortstop, allowing two runs to score to trim the Brewers' lead to 6-5. Bryan Reynolds struck out, but Phillip Evans laced a double to left-center to tie the game at 6-6.
After the Brewers put men on the corners with no outs in the top of the eighth inning, Geoff Hartlieb induced a flyout of Avisail Garcia. On the play, Ryan Braun tried to tag, but was thrown out by left fielder Bryan Reynolds, keeping the score tied.
In the bottom of the eighth, Adam Frazier blasted a two-run homerun off the seat-covering tarp in right field, giving the Pirates an 8-6 lead.
Nick Burdi shut the door in the top of the ninth to earn his first career save. After surrendering a walk to Omar Narvaez, Burdi struck out Ben Gamel and got Lorenzo Cain to ground into a double play to secure the victory for Pittsburgh.
Derek Holland shined in his Pittsburgh debut, striking out five batters and allowing just two hits over 5.2 innings of work.
Pittsburgh and Milwaukee will meet for the final meeting of their three-game series at PNC Park on Wednesday evening.
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