Rowdy Tellez hits go-ahead homer to power Brewers to 4-2 win over Pirates

It’s only been a few weeks, but Rowdy Tellez is quickly winning a lot of hearts in Milwaukee.

Big burly sluggers who hit go-ahead home runs tend to do that.

Tellez homered again for the Brewers — his 5th in 21 games — to put Milwaukee on top in the bottom of the 7th as the Brewers pulled out a 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates to win yet another three-game series.

The Brewers’ bats were cold for much of Wednesday afternoon, facing lefty Steven Brault — someone who has tended to give the Brewers fits over the years. Brault only lasted 4 innings in his first start of the year, but limited the Brewers to 3 hits and just a single run — an RBI single from deadline acquisition Eduardo Escobar.

Luckily, Freddy Peralta was sharp after a bit of a rocky first inning. He scattered 6 hits over 6 innings, allowing just 2 runs while striking out 9 on 98 pitches. Half of Pittsburgh’s hits against him came in the first frame.

Pittsburgh’s runs came on a 4th inning RBI double by Jacob Stallings and a sac fly in the 6th inning by John Nogowski.

Outside of Escobar, who went 3-for-4 on the day, and Kolten Wong (2-for-4), the Brewers couldn’t put much together — at least until the 7th, when a 2-out rally swung the game in their favor.

After Tyrone Taylor struck out and Lorenzo Cain grounded out to begin the inning, Luis Urias worked a walk and Manny Pina was able to reach on an infield single.

That brought up the pitchers’ spot, with Craig Counsell calling on Tellez to face Keller. Rowdy fell behind 0-2 before stretching the AB to a 7th pitch, which he crushed 423 feet into the right field deck for a three-run blast.

From there, Brad Boxberger and Devin Williams pitched a hitless 2 innings to close out the game, with Williams picking up his first save of his career.

Tellez is now hitting .340 (18 of 53) since joining the Brewers after hitting just .209 in 50 games with the Jays.

The Brewers’ NL Central lead remains at 7.5 games after the Reds beat Minnesota this afternoon. Milwaukee has the day off tomorrow before starting a big weekend series against old foe Kris Bryant and the San Francisco Giants.