Pittsburgh Pirates Complete Unlikely Sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers

Following a come form behind victory on Thursday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Pirates completed an unlikely series sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers

In an unexpected turn of events, the Pittsburgh Pirates snapped their seven-game losing streak by sweeping the National League Central leading Milwaukee Brewers. For a lot of reasons, this was one of the most surprising series sweeps of the MLB season.

With the series sweep the Pittsburgh Pirates are now 7-3 in their last 10 games played against the Brewers. This was the second series they have swept this season. The other was also a surprising one, probably an even more surprising one, when they swept the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

Coming out of the series the Pirates are now 43-62 on the season. The series sweep also push the Pirates back ahead of the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs to move back into third place in the NL Central.

All of that said, let’s get into some takeaways from their series sweep of the Brewers.

Pittsburgh Pirates put on their rally caps

As we said above, the Pirates sweeping this series was a surprise for multiple reasons. One of these reasons was that the team had to come from behind in each game, and they had to do it against a very good bullpen.

Tuesday night the Pirates trailed 3-0 entering the bottom of the 5th inning. They then posted a 5-run bottom half of the inning on their way to a 5-3 lead. Wednesday night’s wild affair saw them rally from a 4-0 deficit to take a 7-4 lead, setting up a walk-off home run by Bryan Reynolds after Milwaukee had tied the game at 7.

Thursday afternoon the Pirates rallied more than once. After grabbing a 1-0 lead, the Brewers would take a 3-1 lead in the 4th inning. Pittsburgh rallied to forced extra innings, fell behind 4-3 in the top of the 10th, but then tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on a Reynolds double. Reynolds would then score on a wild pitch, walking the game off in a 5-4 Pirate victory.

The Battling Bucs never gave up in this series. Entering the series 20+ games under .500 and in last place in the division, they easily could have given up. To the credit of Derek Shelton and his players they kept fighting every night on their way to a series sweep.

Pirate bullpen out pitches Brewer bullpen

The Pirate bullpen has been one of the worst in the National League this season. This has led to them being a much maligned group. To the credit of the Pirate bullpen, they out pitched one of the best bullpens in the NL in this series.

Colin Holderman, Manny Bañuelos, Yerry De Los Santos, and Wil Crowe combined to strikeout six while issuing just one walk and allowing three hits in 3.2 scoreless innings pitched in Tuesday night’s victory.

Wednesday night De Los Santos allowed 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning pitched, but the rest of the bullpen picked him up by combining to pitch 7 scoreless innings in relief of Beede. Duane Underwood Jr. allowed the extra inning runner to score on Thursday, but that goes as an unearned run and was the only run allowed by the Pirate bullpen in 5.2 innings pitched.

Meanwhile, the much talked about Brewer bullpen allowed nine runs in 10 innings pitched. It was not a good first series for the new look, Josh Hader-less Brewer bullpen.

Adding to the impressive series for the bullpen is that they had two key relievers land on the IL during the series. All-Star David Bednar hit the IL on Wednesday, Dillon Peters joined him on Thursday. The rest of the bullpen stepped up and overcame this, including Yohan Ramirez and Eric Stout who were re-called to replace Bednar and Peters. Ramirez and Stout combined to strikeout four batters in 2.2 scoreless innings pitched Thursday afternoon.

Tucupita Marcano returns to the majors and impresses

Prior to the start of Wednesday night’s game the Pittsburgh Pirates made a long overdue move when they designated first baseman/designated hitter Yoshi Tsutsugo for assignment. Utility man Tucupita Marcano was re-called from the minors to replace Tsutsugo.

Marcano started in left field on Wednesday night. Thursday afternoon he started at second base. Both offensively and defensively Marcano did nothing but impress in his return to the major leagues.

In the series Marcano was 5-for-8 with a walk, a triple, two runs scored and two RBI. He also made a great running grab in left field Wednesday night. The overall stats do not tell the entire story for Marcano, either.

When the Pirates needed him Marcano came through clutch. With the Pirates trialing 4-3, Marcano singled home Michael Chavis to tie Wednesday night’s game at 4 in the 6th inning. He also started a two-run 3rd inning by singling to start the inning.

Then on Thursday, Marcano came through again. Marcano hit a one-out single to left field scoring Greg Allen in the bottom of the 7th inning, cutting the Brewer lead to 3-2. Early in his Pirate career it looks like Marcano may have that clutch gene.

Moving forward Shelton needs to find a way to get Marcano in the lineup every day. With his ability to play the corner outfield spots, second base, shortstop, and third base, plus designated hitter, getting him in the lineup every day should not be a challenge. Marcano is an exciting player who could have a big future with the Pirates, these last two months need to be an audition for Marcano.