Ortiz finishes strong, Peguero comes out hot as Pirates defeat Brewers

PITTSBURGH — This article originally appeared on PittsburghBaseballNOW.com.

Luis Ortiz shined in his final start of the 2024 and Liover Peguero came through in his season debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates in their 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park on Wednesday.

Recap

Ortiz left a sinker up in the zone on his first offering to Jake Bauers, and the Brewers designated hitter connected on a solo home run to right-center to break a scoreless-tie in the second.

It was all the Brewers (90-68) managed against Ortiz (7-6) in seven-strong innings. The Pirates’ right-hander allowed four hits, walked one and punched out five. Ortiz ends the year with a 3.32 ERA, a major improvement from his 4.78 ERA in 2023.

The score stayed there until the bottom of the fifth when Liover Peguero ripped a two-run two-out double into the left-center gap to put the Pirates (74-84) up 2-1. Brewers starter Freddy Peralta retired the first two batters of the inning – and 14 of the first 15, for that matter – before back-to-back walks to Yamani Grandal and Nick Yorke.

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