MILWAUKEE — Zach Thompson paced around the pitcher’s mound in the bottom of the fourth inning Monday, looking like a mechanic unable to get an engine running or a plumber unable to stop a leak.
After seemingly finding an earlier groove, answers eluded Thompson. Brewers clogged the base paths. Worse, here came Christian Yelich, the 2018 National League MVP.
To render the final verdict on a start that featured both good and bad, it took Yelich one swing on an elevated changeup to make clear how Thompson would feel about this one — angry.
The grand slam Yelich hit was the turning point in a 6-1 Pirates loss at American Family Field, and it surely frustrated Thompson because he had been pitching better than that, both in this start and in those preceding it.
The Brewers scored six earned runs on six hits with four walks in four innings against the big right-hander, who also struck out five. Thompson, who had a 2.77 ERA in 13 spring innings, went four-plus in his previous start, allowing a pair of runs.
Yelich’s home run — the fourth grand slam of his career — was a no-doubter, the ball leaving his bat at 108.3 mph and landing in the right-field seats, 429 feet away. The pitch was a 1-0 changeup that Thompson let leak out over the middle of the plate, a no-no considering Yelich slugged .738 on that pitch as recently as 2019.
The loss dropped the Pirates (5-5) to 60-117 (.339) all-time in this ballpark, including 5-18 since 2019, while Yelich — who was one for his last 15 and had a pedestrian .659 OPS coming in — got a moment he probably needed as well.
How the fourth inning unfolded had to irk not only Thompson, who walked two in the frame, but a couple of the Pirates defenders. Bryan Reynolds came close to catching a ball off the bat of catcher Omar Narvaez but couldn’t make the play. It was scored a hit, although Reynolds has made tougher plays.
Cole Tucker tracked back toward the fence on a ball hit by center fielder Lorenzo Cain. It popped out of Tucker’s glove a step before the wall. Another frustrating sequence came on a fly ball to center field hit by second baseman Kolten Wong.
The ball seemed to die in front of Reynolds, who had trouble getting off a strong throw and missed Narvaez — who’s not fast — by a half a step. The sacrifice fly gave the Brewers a 2-1 lead before Yelich’s grand slam broke it open.
On the offensive side, Diego Castillo had two hits and slugged his first MLB homer in the fourth inning, a terrific moment for someone who has enjoyed several of them dating back to spring training.
Ke’Bryan Hayes, hitting .400 before Monday’s game started, opened the game with his fourth double of the season, although the Pirates stranded him at second. They left two more in the seventh when Reynolds swung through a fastball from former Pirate Jandel Gustave, and Castillo, Newman and Jake Marisnick went quietly with two on in the eighth.
Three batters into Monday’s game, it looked like this might be a really short start for Thompson. Second baseman Kolten Wong and shortstop Willy Adames started with back-to-back singles, and Wong scampered home on a wild pitch from Thompson.
Yelich walked before Thompson began to lean more on his four-seam fastball, especially up in the zone, and struck out three in a row to end the inning. Former Pirate Andrew McCutchen and first baseman Rowdy Tellez swung through fastballs, while right fielder Hunter Renfroe missed on a curveball.
Thompson continued the next inning when he got Narvaez on another fastball, part of a stretch where he sat down eight in a row, five via strikeout, four of those on heaters up in the zone.
As much as Thompson’s start was a quick pivot, so was what happened to Castillo in the fourth. It looked initially like Brewers starter Eric Lauer may have hit him with a slider, but home plate umpire Dan Iassogna ruled Castillo had swung.
Next pitch, Castillo drove a fastball up and away over the fence in right field for his first major league home run. The long ball came after Castillo — the Pirates’ spring training leader in home runs (six), RBIs (12) and batting (.371) — saw his five-game hitting streak come to a close Sunday, though he did pick up an RBI for the third consecutive game.
