Brewers: Crew Drops Series To Pesky Pirates Despite Opportunities

The Brewers had a chance to put themselves in first place in the NL Central with a win yesterday against Pittsburgh in the series finale but couldn’t get the job done. The win yesterday for the Buccos brings Derek Shelton’s team out of last place, which is now occupied by the Chicago Cubs after getting beatdown on national television 13-4.

The Brewers would’ve loved to win this three-game set, but with all the injuries to major contributors for Milwaukee right now and given the fact that it’s still mid-April, it’s a series loss you won’t lose too much sleep over.

On Friday, it was a short outing from Adrian Houser (4.1 IP) coupled with a tough showing for the bullpen that eventually led to a 6-1 loss. Brewer killer Colin Moran homered and Adam Frazier and Gregory Polanco drove in two runs also. J.T. Brubaker pitched a very solid six innings giving up only four hits and one earned run for Pittsburgh and a combination of four Pirates relievers got the job done without giving up any more earned runs.

Tyrone Taylor was one of the lone bright spots on the team going 1-2 with an RBI double and a walk to his name. No Brewer hitter registered a multi-hit game as the bats were quiet to start the series.

On Saturday, it was a different story as the Crew set the tone from the beginning, scoring seven runs in the first two innings to essentially put the game out of reach. Brett Anderson pitched wonderfully going seven innings for the first time since July 31, 2019 against the Brewers when he was a member of the Oakland A’s. Offensively Milwaukee did all their damage without the long ball including a 3-4 day with two runs scored for Jackie Bradley Jr. and a 2-4 day with an RBI for Billy McKinney who has filled in nicely for the injured Christian Yelich.

The relievers for Milwaukee only had to go two innings but it was an important two innings as Eric Yardley and Drew Rasmussen had been struggling mightily before but each had a scoreless frame.

Then the Sunday rubber match came and the fans were treated to some free baseball. Freddy Peralta’s walks once again proved to be his Achilles’ heel as a free pass to Phillip Evans kept the inning alive in the 3rd which was followed by a Bryan Reynolds double and a Colin Moran three-run blast.

In the bottom half of the third, Avisail Garcia would knot things up at three after a 402 foot home run to right center off Chad Kuhl. Kuhl kept the Brewer bats quiet for the most part other than allowing that big fly to Garcia and one earlier to Daniel Vogelbach in the first inning. His line ended up being 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 6 K, 1 BB.

Giving up the long ball would once again prove costly for Brewers pitching in the seventh inning as Brad Boxberger surrendered a no doubter to Bryan Reynolds who went 5-9 in the series with three runs batted in.

Daniel Vogelbach responded in the bottom half of the inning with a clutch two-run shot of his own to tie the game but that would be it as the Milwaukee bats wouldn’t be able to muster any magic and eventually lose in the bottom of the 10th thanks to a Moran double and RBI.

A couple bright spots in the series included Jackie Bradley who’s currently on an eight game hitting streak, Brett Anderson who’s now sporting an ERA of 2.65 and Devin Williams who threw a scoreless 8th inning with some nasty changeups and no runs allowed.

Next up for the Brewers is the NL Wild Card favorite San Diego Padres at Petco Park. The Padres will enter the series 10-7 after getting swept by the Dodgers over the weekend. The projected starters for the opener are Brandon Woodruff and Joe Musgrove who will be coming off the first no-hitter in San Diego history in his last outing.