Pirates deal Brewers 5-game sweep

PITTSBURGH — One late-inning rally wasn’t enough for the Pirates.

Trailing and down to their final out on two occasions, the Pirates managed a 7-6 victory over the Brewers that gave them the first five-game sweep in the majors in nearly a dozen years.

With two on and two outs in the 10th and a steady rain turning into a downpour, Josh Bell made solid contact on a pitch from Dan Jennings (3-3). The crack of the bat was followed closely by a bolt of lightning from the clouds as Bell left the batter’s box.

The ball got past center fielder Lorenzo Cain and bounced to the wall, scoring Gregory Polanco easily from third. The relay throw beat Colin Moran to the plate but skipped off the pitcher’s mound and through the legs of catcher Erik Kratz, giving the Pirates an improbable victory.

Bell gained a tactical advantage earlier in the at-bat when Jennings had a slider slip out of his hand that nearly went for a wild pitch. With the tying run on third, Bell didn’t think Jennings would risk throwing it again.

“I was just dead-red heater,” Bell said. “I got it and I put a good swing on it.”

The blown save was the first of the season for Jennings. An inning earlier, regular closer Corey Kluber blew his second of the season. After loading the bases with no outs, Kluber got Jordy Mercer to ground into a double play that scored one run, but then pinch-hitter David Freese hit a two-out triple off the right-field wall to tie the game.

“We just didn’t make pitches,” Brewers manger Craig Counsell said. “That cost us.”

The Pirates’ five-game sweep is the first in the majors since Aug, 18-21, 2006, when the Yankees took five straight from the Red Sox.