Entire Brewers Team Should Be Embarrassed By Pirates Series Sweep

The Brewers went into Pittsburgh and embarrassed themselves.

After rattling off three straight wins against the Cubs, spirits were high and momentum seemed to be in favor of the Milwaukee Brewers. The offense had come to life and the pitching was performing well.

Then Kenta Maeda happened. He held the Brewers hitless until the 9th inning and then a miraculous comeback happened, only for the Crew to lose in extra innings. We knew the Brewers needed to keep the momentum from that Cubs series going through Minnesota so they could ride it for a while, but that horrible offensive showing and loss against the Twins derailed that.

The Brewers ended up losing two of three in Minnesota and then went to face the Pirates, who are far and away one of the worst teams in baseball and the frontrunners for the No. 1 pick in the draft next year. That should present an easy couple of games to get the offense back into it and swing some momentum in their favor, right?

Wrong.

The Brewers just got their butts handed to them by the worst team in the league.

Brewers Embarrassed All The Way Around By Pirates

The first night, they gave up seven runs to a woeful Pirates offense and barely were able to muster two runs themselves against an even worse Pirates pitching staff. Then the next day, they gave up 12 runs. It was a constant onslaught from the Pirates against Josh Lindblom and the bullpen.

Keston Hiura made it somewhat close on Saturday with a homer to bring it to 7-4 and make it somewhat of a game, but then the bullpen collapsed and allowed five more runs and then the game was out of hand.

Then on Sunday, the Brewers fell behind early, for the 20th time in just 26 games. The offense showed some signs of life as Omar Narvaez finally brought a bat with him to the plate and Justin Smoak went to the opposite field for a home run. The Brewers had a 4-2 lead heading into the later innings and things finally seemed to be lining up for a victory.

But then the bullpen blew it again, this time with David Phelps giving up a go-ahead 2 run homer to Gregory Polanco in the bottom of the 8th and the offense couldn’t muster up anything in the 9th. And just like that, the Brewers got swept by Pittsburgh.

Everyone on this team and everyone in this organization should be embarrassed. There is no reason for a team you expected to compete for a division title and a World Series this year to get outplayed so badly by a team like the Pirates. The offense can’t do anything, and now the pitching is starting to crack.

Frustration is high among the players, and with good reason. They should be frustrated. What bright spots were there in this Pirates series? Omar Narvaez breaking an 0-for-19 in the final game? Our No. 7 hitter Luis Urias not being an offensive black hole every day?

Those are the only real bright spots I can think of from this series. Everyone else disappointed. Ryan Braun, who normally kills the Pirates, was 1-for-7. Christian Yelich, after hitting a homer in the 8th inning of the first game was hitless in the two games afterwards, finishing 1-for-11.

This team isn’t having fun, and they’re at their best when they are having fun. However, you can’t have fun and play loose when you get swept by the Pirates. What this team needs, more than anything else, is an attitude adjustment. Maybe coming back home will help, but something needs to change and quick.

The Trade Deadline is eight days away. If they don’t turn it around soon, the Brewers front office will be forced to sell off or stand pat and give up on the postseason in 2020.

This season is crazy in more ways than one. But the entirety of the offense being in a massive slump and to have this much underperformance to start the season is just bonkers.