Pittsburgh Pirates Fall in a Tight One with the Milwaukee Brewers 6-5

The offense of the Brew Crew proved to be too much for the Pittsburgh Pirates to overcome, as they fell by a score of 6-5 Monday night at Miller Park. 

In a game where the offense held their own, the Pittsburgh Pirates defense is what would ultimately cost them the final game of the series with the Brewers. There have been few games this season where both the offense and defense has looked sharp in the same game, and tonight just wasn’t one of those nights.

Following the 6-5 loss, the Pirates are now just 10-22 overall this season. However, they will finish the season 5-5 against the Brewers.

Lets get into it:

Tough Night for Kevin Newman

Most Pirate fans were glad to finally see Kevin Newman moved over to play second base instead of his usual duties at short stop, but it was a struggle to say the least.

With the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom half of the 2nd inning, Trevor Williams was able to respond with two big outs and no damage done. He would then get Eric Sogard to ground a ball sharply over to Newman at second, but it would deflect off of his glove and make it tough to get the out. Newman, who stuck with the play, rushed the throw a bit and it got away from 1st basemen Colin Moran. That play made it 2-0 Brewers early on.

Then in the bottom of the 4th, the Brewers had runners at first and second with only one out. Julio Urias would then ground into a fielder’s choice to second, but Newman’s throw to first was off target and another run was able to score.

Newman also went 0-4 at the plate with three ground outs and a strikeout.

Buccos Battle

Shortly after the Brewers took the lead, Erik Gonzalez responded with a line drive 2-run homer to tie the game up at 2 in the top half of the 3rd.

Trailing 4-2 in the fifth, Cole Tucker doubled and scored on an Adam Frazier single down the line to make it a one run game.

Noted Pirates killer Keston Hiura fulfilled his role yet again with a solo shot in the bottom half of the inning to push the Brewers lead back to 2. The lead would be short lived, as the Bucs offense delivered in the 6th. A Moran walk and a double from Jacob Stallings put two runners in scoring position with only one out. After a Gregory Polanco strikeout, Jose Osuna lined a single into left center to tie the game up at 5.

In the bottom half of the 8th, a lead-off double from Ben Game put the go ahead run in scoring position right away. Nik Turley would work around Jed Gyorko and Mark Mathias by getting them both to ground out to Osuna at 3rd. Then, after intentionally walking Avisail Garcia, Chris Stratton would be called to the mound to face Orlando Arcia. Arcia, who had major success off of Stratton in the past, grounded a ball into left field to score Gamel and give the Brewers a 6-5 lead.

If only it were Bryan Reynolds in left field at that moment instead of Frazier. The play at the plate would’ve been very close had Reynolds been in left.

Josh Hader would rebound from his uncharacteristic performance on Saturday. He struck out the side in order and picked up a save for Milwaukee.

The Pirates have now fallen to a record of 10-22.

What’s Next?

Ke’Bryan Hayes is next! Finally, Hayes will make his debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park against the Chicago Cubs Tuesday night. The pitching match up will feature Chad Kuhl
(2.52 ERA, 4.69 DRA) for the Pirates and Jon Lester (4.55 ERA, 6.22 DRA) for the Cubs. First pitch is set for 7:05 PM EST.