Martín Pérez gives up nine runs in start for Pirates

MILWAUKEE – It’s a start Martín Pérez would just as soon forget.

The veteran lefty took the mound against the Brewers at American Family Field Wednesday afternoon having pitched effectively away from PNC Park this season.

In four prior road starts, Pérez had given up just six runs in 22 2/3 innings before the Brewers tagged Pérez for a career-high nine runs on 11 hits over five-plus innings on the way to beating the Pirates, 10-2.

The five homers the Brewers hit off Pérez matched the most in franchise history against a single pitcher. Milwaukee also hit five homers off the Reds’ Hunter Greene on May 5, 2022, and Chris Reitsma, also of Cincinnati, on Aug. 31, 2002.

“Everything was off. I was missing my spots. As a pitcher, you’re not allowed to do that,” Pérez said. “Most of the hits and homers today was because of my location.”

Pérez (1-3), who had given up a total of just three home runs in eight starts over 45 innings this season, saw his ERA balloon from 3.60 to 4.86.

“He was in the middle of the plate way too much,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “This is a good offense and when you leave balls in the middle of the plate, especially in day games here when the ball gets up in the air, the ball gets out of the ballpark.”

Shelton said Pérez struggled with all his pitches, including the changeup, which tends to be his most effective.

“The changeup wasn’t as effective as it’s been previously and he left a couple of them up and when you leave changeups up, they are going to get hit,” Shelton said. “It’s a weapon for him and when that’s not one of his weapons, then everything else has to be pretty close to perfect. Today, the changeup was not there and because of that we saw him get hit hard.”

The Brewers erupted for five runs in the third against Pérez. William Contreras belted a three-run homer and Gary Sánchez added a two-run blast later in the inning to put the Brewers in front 5-1.

Sal Frelick belted a solo homer with two outs in the fourth to push the Brewers’ advantage to 6-1. A homer by Joey Ortiz into the second deck in left leading off the fifth made it 7-1.

Pérez took the mound again to start the sixth and gave up a leadoff single to Owen Miller. Jackson Chourio, batting next, cleared the wall to extend the Brewers’ lead to 9-1 and finally end Pérez’s day.

“The pitch count was fine,” Shelton said. “He had gone through the fifth pretty effectively. I was trying [to get] one more inning out of him and save an inning for the bullpen and it just didn’t work out.”

Pérez signed a one-year deal worth $8 million with the Pirates in the off-season after pitching for the Rangers the previous two seasons. He has spent nine of his 13 years in the Major Leagues with the Rangers and earned his lone All-Star nod in 2022 when he went 12-8 with a 2.89 ERA, the eighth-lowest qualified mark in the AL among starters.

Pérez said the rough outing won’t affect his confidence when he takes the mound for his next start.

“Nothing changes. You’re going to have things like this, especially when you have a long season,” he said. “I’ll work on my bullpen [sessions] and try to have a good attitude and do my job. I’ll be fine. It’s going to be a great game, the next one.”

The Pirates’ offense, which struggled for the second consecutive game, pushed across a run in the third for the game’s first tally. Andrew McCutchen hit a solo home run in the seventh, his fifth of the season, for the Pirates’ lone extra-base hit of the game. McCutchen finished 3-for-4 to raise his average from .193 to .211.

“It’s really good to see. He has hit a lot of barrels and not had success in terms of getting hits,” Shelton said. “It was good to see him get rewarded and get some knocks today.”

With the loss, the Pirates are 11-30 at Milwaukee since 2019. They have lost six of their last eight games overall and 13 of their last 18 road games.

The Pirates open a four-game series against the Cubs in Chicago on Thursday.