PITTSBURGH (AP) — William Contreras had three hits and the Milwaukee Brewers used one big inning to edge the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 on Wednesday night.

The Brewers took advantage of a sloppy second inning by the Pirates to turn an error, two walks and two hit batters and an RBI single by Contreras into three runs.

Sal Frelick had two hits for Milwaukee, which snapped a two-game skid. Bryan Hudson (2-1) worked 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Joel Payamps overcame a pair of errors in the ninth for his fourth save.

Payamps made the first error, briefly mishandling a comebacker by Edward Olivares that allowed Olivares to reach safely. Frelick, in left field, let a fly ball by Oneil Cruz drop to put two runners on. Payamps then got Jared Triolo to line out then struck out pinch-hitter Andrew McCutchen to end it.

“Everyone’s going to make errors and, you know, we’re a team, right?” Payamps said through a translator. “So that’s what we have to do. We got to pick each other up. … The job was to strand that runner on base and that’s what we did.”

Bryan Reynolds hit a two-run homer for Pittsburgh, but the Pirates managed just four hits against five relievers in a bullpen game that favored the Brewers.

Bryse Wilson worked 4 1/3 innings while making his second start of the season. Wilson allowed two runs on three hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Given the injuries that have ravaged Milwaukee’s pitching staff, Wilson could be on his way to becoming a full-time starter, a role he filled earlier in his career.

“I like him as a starter, I think he can do it,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “And I think he’s, he’s just just, getting started at it, you know. And I think he’s he’s very, very capable. So with our situation right now, he’s a good option.”

The Pirates opted to give Quinn Priester a couple of extra days to rest after making his 2024 major-league debut in a rocky outing last Friday against Boston. Reliever Josh Fleming (1-1) served as the opener, something he did occasionally last season while with Tampa Bay.

Fleming cruised through the first two innings before running into trouble in the third. Frelick reached on an error by first baseman Rowdy Tellez and Brice Turang walked two batters later.

Luis Ortiz came on in relief and promptly gave up an RBI single to Contreras. Ortiz, who was in the mix for a spot in the starting rotation during spring training before being sent to the bullpen, hit a pair of batters to force in a run and then walked Blake Perkins to give Milwaukee a 3-0 lead.

Reynolds’ third home run of the season — a shot to the seats in right-center — in the bottom of the third brought Pittsburgh within one. But the Pirates never really threatened to tie it until the ninth. McCutchen — who had homered on Monday and Tuesday — couldn’t find a way to get pinch-runner Michael A. Taylor home.

Pittsburgh has scored two or fewer runs seven times in its last eight games, a stretch in which the Pirates are just 2-6.

“We were the big hit away from — I mean, understatement — but a big hit away from winning that game,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Sheltons said. “We created some opportunities late in the game but weren’t able to capitalize on it.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers: LHP Robert Gasser made his season debut for Triple-A Nashville after missing time with bone spurs in his left elbow. The 24-year-old Gasser, considered one of the top prospects in the organization, allowed one run in four innings with five strikeouts.

Pirates: C Yasmani Grandal (left foot) will remain at Triple-A Indianapolis through the end of the week. Pittsburgh general manager Ben Cherington said the team wants to give Grandal plenty of chances to run the bases in the minors since Grandal missed the vast majority of spring training.

UP NEXT

The series concludes on Thursday. Freddy Peralta (2-0, 1.90 ERA) starts for the Brewers against Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller (2-2, 4.80).

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Only one member of the 2023-24 Milwaukee Bucks was a finalist for one of the NBA’s individual awards, and that was forward Bobby Portis.

The 29-year-old once again was in the running for Sixth Man of the Year, but for the second straight year he finished third in the voting. Minnesota big man Naz Reid won the honor with 352 points, including 45 first-place votes. Sacramento’s Malik Monk was the runner-up with 43 first-place votes and 342 points.

Portis received 5 first-place votes and had 81 total points. Nine other players received votes.  

“It would mean the world to me to win it,” Portis said Tuesday morning. “I’ve been talking about this award since I was like 22, 23 years old. Sometimes in the league you gotta manifest things. You gotta obviously put the work in to receive it, but I feel like over the years – especially me being a Milwaukee Buck – I feel like I’ve stood on playing my role to the T, bringing energy and effort on a nightly basis and just letting the dominoes fall how they fall. But it would mean the world to win it.’

Last season Portis finished third behind former Boston guard Malcolm Brogdon and former New York guard Immanuel Quickly.

Portis finished ninth in the voting in 2020-21.

Portis has had his eye on the award for several seasons and was once again Mr. Reliable off the bench for head coaches Adrian Griffin and Doc Rivers. Portis played in all 82 games for the first time in his career and made just four starts. He shot 50.8% from the floor and 40.7% from behind the three-point line – his best marks since the 2020-21 championship season.

He made 79% of his free throws, his best since 2018-19.

Portis also averaged 13.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game and tied a career-high with 0.8 steals per game.

Once Rivers took over on Jan. 29, however, Portis’ season hit another level. The forward averaged 15.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 steals while making 43.9% of his three-pointers over the final 36 games of the season. He also recorded 10 of his 17 double-doubles in that stretch.

In terms of strictly off-the-bench raw stats, Portis finished second in scoring behind Monk with 1,052 points and first in rebounds with 573. He finished second in rebounds per game (7.3), third in overall shooting (50.1%) and fourth in points per game (13.5).

“Individually wise, that award would mean a lot just because of the hard work I put in and just to be recognized for an individual award in the league is big,” Portis said.

Ricky Pierce remains the only Bucks player to win the award, capturing it for the 1986-87 and 1989-90 seasons.

MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee emergency medicine physician will appear on “Jeopardy!” on Wednesday, April 24.

Dr. Amy Hummel completed her undergraduate degree at St. Olaf College and earned her medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

She completed her residency at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics. In 2023, the program announced on social media she was headed to Milwaukee to practice emergency medicine. 

Hummel will complete against returning champion Mark Lashley, a Philadelphia professor who previously won $17,601, and Michigan native Paul Drake.

The episode will air Wednesday night at 6 p.m.