MIAMI (AP) — Jesús Aguilar hit a tying single and scored the winning run on a wild pitch as the Miami Marlins rallied for three runs in the 10th inning to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 on Wednesday night.
The loss snapped the Pirates’ four-game winning streak. Pittsburgh last won five straight in April 2019.
Jon Berti hit an RBI single that trimmed Miami’s deficit to 4-3. Aguilar followed with a one-out RBI single to center field against All-Star closer David Bednar (3-3) that advanced Berti to third.
Bednar intentionally walked pinch-hitter Luke Williams to load the bases. Brian Anderson’s grounder forced Berti at home and sent Aguilar to third.
The first pitch from Bednar to Jesús Sánchez got past catcher Jason Delay, scoring Aguilar.
“I heard a couple of voices saying, go, go, so I took off,” Aguilar said. “I’ve done it with a hit but never scoring the game-winning run like this, as a runner. It feels good.”
Zach Pop (1-0) allowed Daniel Vogelbach’s RBI groundout and Ke’Bryan Hayes’ run-scoring single that put the Pirates ahead 4-2 in the top of the 10th.
“At the end of the day, it was a win, which was something we need,” said Marlins manager Don Mattingly, whose club avoided a third straight loss to the Pirates in the four-game set. “Let’s go get another one (Thursday) and move on.”
Pittsburgh tied it 2-all on Michael Chavis’ RBI double against reliever Tanner Scott in the ninth. Scott walked Vogelbach and Hayes to start the inning. Chavis hit a drive over left fielder Billy Hamilton that advanced Hayes to third.
Avísail García’s two-run single in the eighth put Miami ahead 2-1. Pittsburgh reliever Duane Underwood got the first two outs of the inning before he hit Joey Wendle with a pitch, walked Berti and plunked Aguilar with a pitch. García’s line drive to center scored Hamilton and Berti.
“I was looking for a strike. I’ve been chasing too much this past week,” García said. “He threw me one over the middle and thank God I hit the ball.”
JT Brubaker limited Miami to three hits in seven scoreless innings, matching the longest outing of his career previously done on June 9. The right-hander walked two and struck out nine.
“We had a chance to win,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We had the lead twice and ended up giving it back. We didn’t execute pitches at the end of the game.”
Miami starter Pablo López kept Pittsburgh hitless through the first four innings until Ben Gamel’s RBI single in the fifth broke a scoreless tie. Oneil Cruz had a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on Gamel’s line drive to right.
López was lifted after five innings. He allowed one hit, walked four and struck out three.
“The main thing is that we won,” López said. “On a more personal note, I just think it was not a very good performance. Very poor command, poor execution, which led to a lot of things going on.”
The Marlins threatened against Brubaker in the fourth when García hit a leadoff double and Anderson walked. But then Sánchez forced Anderson at second and Nick Fortes grounded into a double play.
“Brubaker was really good, really sharp, did a nice job,” Shelton said.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Marlins: All-Star DH/1B Garrett Cooper (bruised left knee) continued to experience soreness and did not play. Cooper fouled a pitch off his knee in the sixth inning Tuesday.
UP NEXT
RHP Zach Thompson (3-6, 4.38 ERA) will start the series finale for the Pirates on Thursday against LHP Braxton Garrett (1-3, 4.33).
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