Pittsburgh Pirates: Pitching Falters as Team Swept in Milwaukee

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MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – JUNE 11: Chase De Jong #37 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on June 11, 2021 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

Starting rotation was good enough for a series victory

Chase De Jong started for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night and kept the Pirates in the game. In 5 innings pitched De Jong limited the Brewers to just 2 earned runs on 4 hits. He walked 4 and struck out a pair. While the Pirates lost on Friday night, De Jong was not the reason why as he turned in one of two strong starts over the weekend for the Pirates.

Saturday afternoon the Pittsburgh Pirates received their lone poor start of the series. Chad Kuhl’s woes continued as he was tagged for 6 runs on 5 hits, 4 walks and he hit a batter, while striking out just a pair, in 3.1 innings of work. On the season, Kuhl now owns a 6.52 ERA, 6.50 FIP a 15.1% walk rate and a strikeout rate of just 16.5%.

Sunday afternoon Wil Crowe, making his return to the starting rotation, turned in one of his best starts as a member of the Pirates. The righty allowed back-to-back hits to start the game, which led to a Brewer run, but he retired the next 13 batters faced.

After retiring 13 in a row, Crowe walked a batter to lead off the 6th inning before being pulled. This runner came around to score after Crowe was pulled from the game setting his final line at 2 runs allowed on 2 hits, a walk and 8 strikeouts in 5+ innings pitched.

For most of the season the Pirate starting rotation has simply not been good enough to compete. This past weekend, however, the rotation pitched well enough to win the series with strong starts from De Jong in game one and Crowe in game three. Unfortunately, the bullpen let them down with a rare poor series.

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