A game is never finished until the final out is recorded, and that was an unfortunate reality for the Pittsburgh Pirates in a Monday defeat at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park.
The game, the Pirates' home opener, lasted an inning and a half before heading into a rain delay of almost two hours. The first batter following the delay, Colin Moran, blasted his second solo homerun in as many days to give Pittsburgh (1-3) an early 1-0 lead.
The score stayed at 1-0 until the top of the seventh, when Lorenzo Cain brought the tying run across for Milwaukee (1-3) with an RBI single. The Brewers loaded the bases, but Nik Turley got Christian Yelich to fly out to keep the score at 1-1.
Moran stepped to the plate to lead off the home half of the seventh, and he blasted a one-bounce homerun into the Allegheny River to give the Pirates the lead right back at 2-1. Moran has now homered in all three PNC Park home openers during his Pittsburgh tenure.
The rally continued for Pittsburgh. Following a walk to Bryan Reynolds, Jose Osuna reaching on an error and a walk to Jacob Stallings, Jarrod Dyson drove in two runs with a sharp single to right. Stallings would come around on a wild pitch, giving the Pirates a seemingly comfortable 5-1 edge.
In the top of the ninth, the rails fell off for Pittsburgh. Michael Feliz surrendered a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to Keston Hiura and an RBI groundout to Yelich to cut the Pirates' lead to 5-3. Feliz was replaced by Kyle Crick, who allowed a game-tying two-run double to Ryan Braun with two strikes and two outs.
In the top of the eleventh, Dovydas Neverauskas gave the lead to Milwaukee when Eric Sogard doubled in Brock Holt, the Brewers' intentional runner on second base, to give the Brewers their first lead of the evening at 6-5.
The Pirates had a shot in the bottom of the inning, but could not convert. Josh Bell advanced Kevin Newman (intentional runner) to third base, but Milwaukee reliever David Phelps struck out Erik Gonzalez and Bryan Reynolds to secure the victory.
Chad Kuhl, who made his first appearance since June of 2018, pitched 3.2 innings of scoreless relief, walking two batters and striking out four Brewers.
The two teams will meet again on Tuesday at PNC Park, when left-hander Derek Holland will make his Pirates' debut. Josh Lindblom, who last pitched in the MLB with the Pirates in 2017, will make his first start for the Brewers.
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