Pirates Swept Out Of Milwaukee

After the first two batters of the game for Milwaukee I was honestly felt deflated, and began to prepare myself for disappointing afternoon of baseball. A single by Luis Urias, followed by a rocket shot of a double by Daniel Vogelbach quickly put the Pirates in the hole 1 to 0; with the recently recalled Wil Crowe on the mound set up to take a pounding. However, this never came to pass as Crowe methodically sat down the next 15 Brewers that came to the plate; striking out eight in the process.

Then came the bottom of the sixth, which was immediately proceeded by Crowe grounding out with the bases loaded; but more importantly a Jacob Stallings solo shot that gave Pittsburgh the 2-1 lead, and put Crowe in position for his first big league win. However, after walking the first batter, Crowe was abruptly removed from the game; although it wasn’t the entire story, because truthfully he looked a little off during the first batter of the inning in his mannerisms and reactions to the pitches Stallings was calling.

Whether you thought it was a curious decision, or clearly the wrong call by Shelton, unfortunately it didn’t work out in his favor as David Bednar promptly gave up a game tying triple and a go ahead two run homer later that half inning.

The Brewers would go on to add an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh, as the duo of Devin Williams and Josh Hader shut down the Pirates to preserve a 5-2 victory and a series sweep for Milwaukee.

News and Notes

• Colin Moran left the game with back tightness after running from second to third base, and eventually scoring in the top of the second. This dude can’t catch a break when it comes to injuries this year. Hopefully, he just needs a little rest and doesn’t end up on the IL again.
• Ben Gamel had a pretty nice series against his old ball club; starting with a home run on Friday, and capping it off with a 3 for 4 day on Sunday. Since joining the Pirates, Gamel is slashing .243/.295/.414 with 9 extra base hits, which isn’t off the chart; but it sure is a lot better than some of the outfielders he could be replacing in the lineup.
• Over his last seven appearances and six innings of work David Bednar has posted a 4.50 ERA, while allowing three earned runs on six hits, with six strikeouts and four walks.
• Geoff Hartlieb looked pretty good in his second outing of the year, and his first since May 10th against Cincinnati, as he struck out one and didn’t allow a hit to give the Pirates a shot at comeback in the ninth.
• The Pirates are on their longest losing streak of the season, seven games; now sporting a 23-41 record on the season.

On Monday the Pirates travel to Washington, D.C. to take on the Nationals for a three game series, before a scheduled off day on Thursday.

JT Brubaker (4-5, 3.90 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Pirates in the first game against Jon Lester (0-2, 4.19 ERA) for the Nationals at 7:05 PM EST from Nationals Park.