The Milwaukee Brewers continued their torrid streak tonight at Miller Park, winning their eighth straight game as the Pittsburgh Pirates offense could not deliver late in a 3-2 loss. The guarantees the first series defeat of the season for the Pirates (6-5) Meanwhile, the red hot Brewers (9-2) now have the best record in baseball.
Carlos Gomez led off the game with a mammoth shot to centerfield, his fourth home run of the season, to give the Brewers an early edge. Starter Edinson Volquez was once again solid for his second consecutive start, but an error by Pedro Alvarez and a wild pitch by Volquez proved costly as the Brewers were able to get an additional run in the bottom of the second, giving the Brewers a 2-0 advantage.
The Pirates were able to tie the game up in the third inning after Travis Ishikawa lead off with a double and then followed up by a Jordy Mercer single, advancing Ishikawa to third. Ishikawa then scored compliments of a Starling Marte groundout, making it 2-1 and then evened the score at 2-2 after Travis Snider looped a single over shortstop Juan Segura, scoring Mercer.
Both Volquez and Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo were solid after the third, as both teams were scoreless going into the eighth. In the top of the eighth, the Pirates blew a golden opportunity to take the lead after Starling Marte single to left and then advanced to third after Snider’s second hit of the game. Marte then attempted to score on a Andrew McCutchen foul out, as Snider and Marte took off on a double steal attempt. Unfortunately for Marte, the risk did not pay off, as Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy tagged Marte out at the plate, ending the Pirates rally.
Lucroy keyed the Brewers eighth with a with an RBI single after hits by Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Braun off of Mark Melancon (0-1). Lucroy’s single scored Braun, and gave the Brewers a 3-2 lead.
Francisco Rodriguez was able to pitch a scoreless ninth, giving the Brewers another victory against the Pirates at Miller Park. The Pirates will look to salvage a win in the series tomorrow afternoon at 2:10 PM. The starters will be Charlie Morton (0-0) and Kyle Lohse (1-1)
