Despite Brewers' second consecutive loss, Ashby shines

In two consecutive days, the Milwaukee Brewers have dropped disappointing losses to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates, who hold the second-worst record in the National League, scratched together more than four runs in back-to-back games during Thursday and Friday night's matchups after failing to reach the mark for nearly a month straight. However, despite an impressive pitching display from Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon, the Pirates required just two runs to defeat the Brewers, handing the Crew their second loss in as many nights.

The scoring started in the top of the first inning, with Pittsburgh's first baseman, Spencer Horowitz, slugging an RBI double in the bottom of the frame. However, Brewers starter Quinn Priester settled in nicely, and the one run he allowed in the first ended up being the only run he surrendered in a six-inning, 84-pitch outing. He struck out a season-high seven batters and walked just one.

Priester has strung together a few solid starts since his seven-run outing against the Chicago Cubs earlier this month, and his season ERA now sits at a respectable 4.23. With José Quintana and Brandon Woodruff returning in the near future, it remains to be seen how the Brewers will handle Priester's future, but the 24-year-old former first-round pick seems to be hitting his stride.

Offensively, the Brewers returned to their last week’s woes of not capitalizing on runners in scoring position. Despite having 11 hits in the contest, including three hits apiece from Caleb Durbin and Joey Ortiz, they were just 2-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine runners on base. The lone run came in the second inning on an RBI-single from Durbin that scored Christian Yelich from second base.

Durbin has now hit safely in four straight games, and with the first three-hit game of his young MLB career last night, his batting average is back above .200. Even still, despite getting six total hits from the seventh and ninth spots in the lineup, the Brewers were held to just one run and dropped their second game in a row in Pittsburgh.

However, despite another unsatisfactory night from the offense, one reliever made his return to MLB and left Brewers fans with something to be encouraged about.

Aaron Ashby shines in return to MLB

After missing nearly two months to start the 2025 season, Aaron Ashby returned to a major league mound last night and pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth with the Brewers down a run. The Pirates snatched the lead back in the seventh inning thanks to an RBI-triple from Oneil Cruz, who has four extra base hits in the series. The run came off of Brewers left-handed reliever Tyler Alexander, who now holds a 6.75 ERA in the month of May. However, despite being down a run, it was still a high leverage outing for Ashby, with the Brewers needing a scoreless frame to stay in the game, and that was exactly what he delivered.

After striking out Bryan Reynolds on a 97 MPH fastball at the top of the zone, Ashby surrendered a one-out double to Horowitz, who is swinging a hot bat with four hits in the series so far. Ashby locked in and struck out the next batter, Alexander Canario, on a nasty slider at the bottom of the zone. It was the only slider that Ashby threw all inning, but it was a dandy. He closed out his outing by inducing a soft groundout off the bat of Ke'Bryan Hayes, that Brice Turang fielded cleanly.

According to Baseball Savant, Ashby wasn't generating the same movement on his pitches that he was a season ago. His fastball had slightly less arm side run, and his curveball wasn't dropping quite as much as it did in 2024. However, Ashby's velocity was strong — he was sitting 97 and touched 98— and outside of the curveball that he hung to Horowitz, he commanded and executed all of his pitches well.

In what was otherwise a very frustrating loss, Ashby's return provided a small silver lining. The Brewers look to right the ship this afternoon, with Logan Henderson on the bump, before they return home for a matchup with the mighty Boston Red Sox.