William Contreras leads the way as Brewers hit 5 homers off Martín Pérez in 10-2 win over Pirates

MILWAUKEE (AP) — William Contreras went 3 for 5 with four RBIs and hit one of Milwaukee’s five homers off Martín Pérez in the Brewers’ 10-2 blowout of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.

The NL Central-leading Brewers won two of three from the Pirates before beginning a season-long, nine-game trip Friday at Houston. The Brewers also will visit Miami and Boston before coming back home May 27 for a four-game series with the Chicago Cubs that marks ex-Brewers manager Craig Counsell’s return to Milwaukee.

“I like the guys, I do,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “I really like them. They care. They’re hungry. I love hungry players.”

Gary Sánchez, Sal Frelick, Joey Ortiz and Jackson Chourio also homered off Pérez, who gave up 11 hits and nine runs before leaving with nobody out in the sixth inning. Chourio’s homer traveled 441 feet and Ortiz’s blast went 425 feet.

“It’s fun,” Ortiz said. “Putting up that much on anyone is a good day. It’s definitely exciting.”

Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen went 3 for 4, homered and scored both the Pirates’ runs.

The Brewers tied a franchise record for homers off a single pitcher in one game. They also hit five home runs off Cincinnati’s Chris Reitsma in 2002 and Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene in 2022.

This was the Brewers’ first five-homer game since a 9-0 rout of the New York Mets on April 4, 2023. The Pirates hadn’t allowed as many as five homers in a game since July 6, 2022, when they gave up six in a 16-0 loss to the New York Yankees.

The Brewers nearly went deep a sixth time. Pirates center fielder Michael A. Taylor reached his left arm over the wall to rob Willy Adames of a potential homer in the eighth inning.

Contreras put Milwaukee ahead for good with a three-run homer in the third, and he also singled in the fifth and tripled in the seventh. Contreras has gone 17 of 36 during a nine-game hitting streak and is now hitting .359 with a .434 on-base percentage.

“It leaves me speechless, honestly,” Ortiz said. “It’s pretty unreal to watch him hit.”

Before Wednesday, Pérez had allowed just three homers all season while working 45 innings.

“Today he was just in the heart of the plate the entire game and then the changeup wasn’t as effective as it’s been previously,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He left a couple of them up. And when you leave changeups up, they’re going to get hit.”

Five days after allowing just two hits over six shutout innings in his major league debut, Brewers starter Robert Gasser (2-0) gave up just one run in five innings while allowing eight hits. Gasser struck out two and walked one.

The team said Gasser is the first pitcher in Brewers history to earn a win in each of his first two major league appearances.

TRANSACTIONS

The Brewers promoted outfielder Chris Roller from Triple-A Nashville and optioned infielder Oliver Dunn to Nashville. They also reinstated Taylor Clarke from the 15-day injured list and optioned him to Nashville.

The Pirates recalled pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski from Triple-A Indianapolis and optioned pitcher Quinn Priester to Indianapolis.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins says he’s planning to travel with the team on its nine-game trip that begins this weekend even as he’s on the injured list after straining his right hamstring Monday. Hoskins is expected to miss two to four weeks.

“I’ve been around enough guys with hamstring issues to know they’re pretty fickle and each one is just so, so different,” Hoskins said. “So I think all in all, the two to four weeks is much better than it could have been. I’m just bummed and disappointed to not be out there with these guys as we’re trying to continue to stack some wins and stack some series wins.”

UP NEXT

Pirates: Begin a four-game road series with the Chicago Cubs on Thursday. Jared Jones (2-4, 2.68 ERA) will start for the Pirates in the opener.

Brewers: Off Thursday before beginning a three-game series at Houston. Freddy Peralta (3-1, 3.63) will start for the Brewers on Friday. Pregame at 6:35 p.m. on KFIZ.