Jason Rogers came into the game with five hits against left-handed pitching. It was his bat, however, that contributed to a 4-1 Milwaukee Brewers victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“Rogers had the two big hits for sure and it was a nice game by Jason,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s not in there every day and he’s facing one of the better starters in our division and has a nice night. That’s why he’s here.”
Rogers first hit his second home run of the season to left field in the second inning. Starling Marte nearly was able to bring the home run back but his leap fell just short.
“I was just reacting,” Rogers said. “It was a slider in and I knew he likes to throw sliders with two strikes but he left it up just enough to where I got a good piece of wood on it.”
He then came up in the seventh inning and hit a single which scored Carlos Gomez.
“The 0-2 count I should have made a better pitch there in that situation,” said Liriano. “I hung a slider and he put a pretty good swing on it. The third at-bat I think he saw the ball well against me. It was just a couple of mistakes that I made.”
The Brewers secured its first series win in three attempts this season against the Pirates. This after the Pirates had a largely successful road trip.
“It kind of stinks because we’ve been playing so well,” Jordy Mercer said. “We’ve just had some bad luck and we’re facing some good pitching. We’re going to come back ready to play tomorrow and get after it.”
Taylor Jungmann [1-0] may have come in with a 6.37 ERA in his time this season in Triple-A, however he was able to limit the Pirates to a run on three hits in seven innings.
“That’s as good as it gets, he just did a really nice job,” said Counsell. “The most impressive thing was that he pounded the strike zone. I thought he really responded to the stage. He was very poised out there and in control of everything.”
Marte represented the lone Pirates run scored when he hit his 12th home run of the season in the second inning. He has now homered four times in eight games against the Brewers this season.
The second Brewers run was also scored in the seventh on an Aramis Ramirez ground out.
Francisco Liriano [3-5] took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits in eight innings. He threw 105 pitches and 70 were for strikes. His eight innings of work tie a season high.
“It was good work again,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He changed speeds, 21 of 30 first pitch strikes and 19 batters retired on three pitches or less. We saw a good body of work tonight. You score one run for him, there’s no safety net.
The Pirates had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth, but Andrew McCutchen’s fly ball was caught by Gomez on the warning track.
Ramirez added a homer, his seventh of the season off reliever Jared Hughes in the ninth inning.
In the bottom of the ninth inning it was Francisco Rodriguez that pitched the bottom of the ninth for a second consecutive outing and picked up his 12th save of the season in as many chances. Rodriguez is ninth on the all-time list in saves.
“It was fun to get the first win, get it out of the way and build on it from there,” said Jungmann after he was showed with beer by his teammates.
The Pirates now have a 12-20 record when opponents score first and are 0-19 when trailing after eight innings.
These two teams will conclude their series Wednesday night when Kyle Lohse [3-6 6.50 ERA] takes on Charlie Morton [3-0 2.84 ERA]. Morton is 2-6 with a 4.63 ERA in 11 career starts against the Brewers.
