PITTSBURGH -- The Brewers have asked a lot of their bullpen through the first 52 games of this season, and more often than not, those hard-worked relievers have delivered.
On Friday, they didn’t.
Jackson Chourio, William Contreras and Isaac Collins delivered go-ahead hits for the Brewers from the seventh inning and beyond, only to see all three leads evaporate in a 6-5 loss to the Pirates in 10 innings at PNC Park.
What began as a duel between Opening Day starters Freddy Peralta and Paul Skenes ended as a back-and-forth battle of bullpens that saw two of the Brewers’ best high-leverage relievers, Jared Koenig and Abner Uribe, each surrender a one-run lead while working for the fourth time in the last six days. Uribe did so twice. He allowed Oneil Cruz’s second home run of the night in the bottom of the ninth inning before yielding two more runs in the bottom of the 10th, when a two-out, two-strike wild pitch handed the Pirates a walk-off win.
“It’s a tough time right now,” said the catcher Contreras, whose tiebreaking home run in the ninth inning gave the Brewers a chance to win in regulation. “But we’re fighting. We have to fight right now all the way to the end of the season.”
He knows that the Brewers’ best bullpen arms -- a group that includes Uribe, Koenig, Nick Mears and Grant Anderson (all of whom pitched Friday) and closer Trevor Megill (who earned the save Thursday in his fourth appearance in five days) -- have pitched a lot. Koenig and Uribe are tied for third in the Majors with 25 appearances apiece, representing 48 percent of the team’s games.
“A lot. And it’s still May. It’s May 23,” Contreras said. “I know what you’re thinking about, but we have to do it. We have to pitch like that. We have to take care of the pitchers, but it’s hard.”
Adding to the angst on Friday was that Uribe’s game-ending wild pitch came moments after right fielder Sal Frelick made one of the Brewers’ best defensive plays of the season, fielding Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s single and firing a throw home ahead of a sprinting Alexander Canario, whose single had just tied the game again.
The throw beat Canario to home plate by several steps, and the runner was called out for leaving the baseline. That gave Uribe and the Brewers a chance to push the game to an 11th inning if they could get one more out.
“Getting the out at home doesn’t do too much to my mentality, because there is still work to be done there,” Uribe said. “We still have to win the inning. … I just wasn’t able to get that last out there tonight.”
Manager Pat Murphy has acknowledged concern throughout this season about his bullpen, which has carried a heavy burden because the starting rotation has been thinned by early-season injuries. Replacements have pitched capably, but more often in shorter outings, including Peralta’s on Friday, a 4 1/3-inning start that required 101 pitches -- leaving Murphy concerned that his ace is being more affected by a minor groin issue than Peralta was letting on.
As a result of shorter starts and an abundance of close games, the Brewers have some of the most-used relievers in baseball. Besides Koenig and Uribe among the league leaders, Joel Payamps pitched 23 times for Milwaukee before being designated for assignment on Thursday. Anderson and Mears have each pitched 22 times. Megill has pitched 20 times.
Asked whether he believes the recent workload is sustainable, Uribe said, “At least, as it goes for me, it’s all good by me. I’m good to go out there and take the ball. The way we’re playing right now, we’re playing to win the game every single night.”
Murphy said he was left with little choice as the 10th inning began on Friday but to send Uribe back out for a second inning after a 20-pitch ninth. Rob Zastryzny had pitched the previous two days, and Murphy said he didn’t want to use Aaron Ashby, since Ashby had warmed up earlier in the night and was in his first night back in the big leagues coming off an oblique injury.
That left one option, Murphy said. Lefty Tyler Alexander was on one day of rest after throwing 51 pitches over back-to-back appearances against the Orioles at home, but had the game extended beyond the 10th, Alexander would have been asked for more.
There is help coming. Ashby finished last year as an electric high-leverage arm and could become one again. Another lefty, DL Hall, is nearing the end of his comeback from a left lat injury and is expected to work in relief. And starters Jose Quintana and Brandon Woodruff are nearing returns from injury. But that didn’t help Friday night.
“I told [Uribe], ‘This is your game,’” Murphy said. “I thought he would shut them down.”