Diary of a long suffering Pirates fan: Games 23-26. How do we keep losing to these guys?

As I watched the series unfold, I thought that the Pirates were the better team.  But the better team or not, the Pirates still managed to lose the last two games of the series to make it a split instead of a sweep. 

Coming into the series, the Brewers were tied for having the best record in baseball.  And as they leave town, I am left to wonder, “How?”  How do they keep winning?  I think that may be Milwaukee’s superpower.  They lull their opponents into a sense of false security.  In the off-season the Brewers lost their manager (Craig Counsel), their two best-starting pitchers (Burnes and Woodruff), and their best relief pitcher, Devin Williams, landed on the disabled list to start the season.  How was this team going to win?  How?  After watching them for four games, I still don’t know.

When you get a lead against them, you become overconfident that your team will be able to hold that lead against a less-than-fearsome lineup. But then you don't. And when you fall behind them in the game, you have confidence that you will be able to come back against their bullpen, but then you don't. And that's how Milwaukee escapes Pittsburgh with a split instead of being swept. And that's why they are still in first place in the National League Central.

On Wednesday night, it was former Pirates’ pitcher Bryce Wilson who silenced the Pirates’ bats.  “Bryce Wilson,” I thought.  “They’re starting Bryce Wilson.  The Bryce Wilson that would look good for a couple of innings when he was with the Pirates and then implode in the middle innings.  That Bryce Wilson?  Oh, boy,” I thought.  “Three-game winning streak, here we come.” 

And when Bryan Reynolds hit a two-run homer off Wilson in the third, I thought, “Here we go. Good for three innings, and then the implosion begins.”  But Wilson did not implode.  The Reynolds homer would be the only run the Pirates would score against Wilson.  The Milwaukee bullpen would then throw goose eggs at the Pirates the rest of the way.