Brewers Stun Skenes to Win 11th Straight

by Jake Lax, August 12, 2025

The Milwaukee Brewers came into Tuesday night riding a ten-game win streak and the best record in Major League Baseball. However, their matchup to extend the win streak to eleven seemed like a tall task, as they faced the current favorite for the National League Cy Young Award (-650), Paul Skenes. The Pirates’ starter came into Tuesday night with an MLB-leading 1.94 ERA and 162 strikeouts.

One of these juggernauts was bound to falter, and this time the red-hot Brew Crew got the best of Skenes and the Pirates. Milwaukee forced Skenes out of the ballgame in four innings by making him throw 93 pitches through the first four frames.

Freddy Peralta Deals

Right-hander Freddy Peralta got the start for the Brewers as they looked to take game two of a three-game series against the Pirates. Peralta has been great for Milwaukee this season, and Tuesday was no exception. He started off the game with a 1-2-3 inning, striking out two batters. The Brewers’ bats took no time to get going as Sal Frelick took Skenes deep to right field, hitting a leadoff home run to put Milwaukee up 1-0 early.

Freddy Peralta continued to deal, allowing only one baserunner through his first three innings. In a matchup many assumed Skenes would outduel Peralta, it just wasn’t the All-Star’s night, as he struggled again in the bottom of the third. Sal Frelick, with a home run already, got on base by drawing a walk. Frelick was then driven in on a double from William Contreras to extend the Brewers’ lead to 2-0.

The next inning was not kind to Skenes either. Milwaukee second baseman Brice Turang joined the party, hitting a deep solo home run to center field. The Brewers kept pouring on the hits as Joey Ortiz doubled and Sal Frelick followed with an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0. Skenes finished the night after the fourth, allowing six hits and four earned runs.

Blowout Brewing

The Pittsburgh pitching staff continued to struggle as the bullpen allowed ten total runs following Skenes’ start. It started with a Christian Yelich two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth off reliever Yohan Ramirez. Freddy Peralta closed out the sixth inning for the Brewers to finish his impressive outing. He allowed only three hits and recorded seven strikeouts through six scoreless innings.

The bottom half of the sixth is where things blew open, with the Brewers recording four hits in the inning. Blake Perkins, William Contreras, and Christian Yelich all contributed singles, with Yelich and Contreras knocking in runs. Andrew Vaughn came up with Milwaukee already up 9-0 and blasted a three-run home run to blow this game out of the water, 12-0 Brewers.

The Pirates failed to get any offense going as the Milwaukee bullpen shut them down. Grant Anderson and Aaron Ashby didn’t allow a single hit through two innings pitched. Then came the position players to pitch. The Pirates threw shortstop Jared Triolo out to pitch. He started throwing about 77 MPH but worked his way down to 40 MPH lobs just trying to get out of the inning. Caleb Durbin took a soft lob deep to get Milwaukee to 14 total runs on the night.

Going into the ninth, the Brewers had second baseman Anthony Seigler take the mound to close out the Pirates. As Seigler closed out the win, the Brewers’ streak grew to eleven straight wins. This was just an all-around domination from the Milwaukee Brewers, who totaled fifteen hits and held the Pirates to just four.

The 14-0 win improves the Brewers to 75-44, extending their lead over the entire league and setting themselves up for a playoff push. Following Tuesday’s win, they have outscored their opponents 91-34 over this 11-game winning streak. The National League will be a battlefield come October, but if the Brewers can finish strong through the rest of the regular season, they should give themselves a chance for the No. 1 seed with home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.