Pittsburgh Pirates: Grading Series Against the Milwaukee Brewers

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PITTSBURGH, PA – JULY 28: Ryan Braun #8 of the Milwaukee Brewers is tagged out by John Ryan Murphy #18 of the Pittsburgh Pirates during the eighth inning at PNC Park on July 28, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) /

Dishing out grades for the Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation, offense and bullpen for their first home series of the 2020 season

The first home series of the 2020 season is in the books for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Coming off a series loss against their National League Central division rival St. Louis Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Pirates were looking for series victory over another NL Central foe – the Milwaukee Brewers.

The first two games of this series were two wild games. Honestly, they will likely prove to be two of the more wild games the Pirates will play all season. Then in the final game of the series, the offense was MIA for the Pittsburgh Pirates as they got shutout for the first time this season, leading to another series loss.

With the series loss, the Pirates are now 2-4 overall on the season. This includes being 0-2 in series played, with both series coming against NL Central foes.

As we will do throughout the season here at Rum Bunter, it is now time to dish out some grades. We will grade the job the Pirates’ starting rotation, offense and bullpen all did in this series. So, let’s dive in beginning with the starting rotation.

PITTSBURGH, PA – JULY 29: Joe Musgrove #59 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park on July 29, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

The Starting Rotation

In the season opener on Monday, the Pittsburgh Pirates piggybacked Steven Brault and Chad Kuhl. So, we will lump them both in with the starting pitchers for the series.

Brault pitched just 2 innings due to a rain delay, but he held the Brewers off the board in these 2 innings of work. The story of the night, though, was Kuhl. In his first MLB regular season outing in over two calendar years, Kuhl allowed three hits, walked two and struck out four in 3.2 scoreless innings of work. His fastball was a power pitch and his slider was filthy. He threw a plus curveball, too. If this is any sign of things to come from Kuhl this season, he will have a huge season for the Pirates.

Tuesday night, the Pirates continued to get strong starting pitching. Making his Pirate debut, Derek Holland allowed just a 2-run home run on two hits, three walks and five strikeouts in 5.2 innings of work. Outside of a hanging breaking ball that Keston Hiura crushed for a home run, Holland was excellent.

The 5.2 innings pitched trend continued in game three on Wednesday night. In his second start of the season, Msugrove pitched 5.2 innings, just as he did in his first start of the season. Also mirroring the first start of the season, Musgrove allowed two long balls. These long balls were his ultimate undoing on Wednesday night. The home runs led to all 3 runs the Brewers scored off of him, but he allowed just one other hit and struck out eight.

The Verdict

Overall, it was a good series for Pirate starting pitchers. The Brault/Kuhl piggyback pitched 5.2 scoreless innings and Holland went 5.2 strong in game two. While Musgrove was troubled by the long ball in his start, he gave the Pirates a chance to win. The only thing keeping the starters from getting an A is you would like to see your starters go a bit deeper than they did.

Grade: B+

PITTSBURGH, PA – JULY 27: Jarrod Dyson #6 of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits a two RBI single in the seventh inning against the Milwaukee Brewers during Opening Day at PNC Park on July 27, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

The Offense

In the first two games of the series, the Pittsburgh Pirates brought their bats. They scored 5 runs in a loss on Monday night, and crossed home plate for 8 more runs in Tuesday night’s victory. However, on Wednesday night the Pirate offense was nonexistent.

Milwaukee starter Brandon Woodruff mowed the Pirate bats down. When his night ended, the Brewer bullpen came in and picked up where Woodruff left off. When the night was over, the Pirates were shut out for the first time this season.

Even in Monday night’s loss, the Pirate offense wasted a few opportunities. The team went just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, that can be a killer in a 1-run game. This included getting the tying run to third base with just one out in the bottom of the 11th inning and failing to get the run home.

The Verdict

The Pirate offense got off to a great start in the series before doing nothing on Wednesday night. A big problem right now is that five of the team’s key hitters – Josh Bell, Bryan Reynolds, Kevin Newman, Gregory Polanco, and Adam Frazier – are all struggling mightily. Having your best hitters struggle makes it difficult for any team to score. But, overall, the series was a good one for the Pirate offense.

Grade: B-

PITTSBURGH, PA – JULY 28: Nick Burdi #57 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches during the ninth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park on July 28, 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) /

The Bullpen

It was another roller coaster of a series for the Pirate bullpen.

Monday night was a disaster. Nik Turley allowed a run in the 7th inning, then Michael Feliz and Kyle Crick combined to blow a 5-1 9th inning lead. Dovydas Neverauskas then allowed the winning run to score in the 11th inning.

Then on Tuesday night, the roller coaster ride continued.

After Chris Stratton got the final out of the 6th inning, he walked the first two batters of the 7th inning and was lifted. Miguel Del Pozo entered the game and walked three batters, in addition to allowing a double before being lifted.

Geoff Hartlieb replaced Del Pozo, and started to right the ship. He put out the 7th inning fired and pitched a scoreless 8th. Nick Burdi then did what Nick Burdi does and mowed the Brewers down in the 9th inning to close out the victory.

Wednesday was the lone game in the series where it was all good work from the Pirate bullpen.

Neverauskas replaced Musgrove with two outs in the 6th inning and runner on base, and he stranded the runner. Veteran lefty Robbie Erlin then pitched a pair of scoreless innings for the Bucs, before Richard Rodriguez pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning.

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The Verdict

As was the case in St. Louis, there was some good and some bad out of the bullpen for the Pittsburgh Pirates in this series. The bad, however, certainly outweighed the good. In fact, the bullpen is what cost the Pirates their first series win of the season. The bullpen also tried their best to blow Tuesday night’s game. So far this season the bullpen has been either excellent or a disaster. Fun stuff!

Grade: C

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