Francisco Liriano gave the Pirates another solid start, holding the Brewers to one run over 5 1/3 innings while striking out seven, and the offense gave the pitching staff more than enough runs as the Pirates defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 7-1, Thursday night.
The Pirates have made a habit of losing the opening game of a four game series, only to come back and win the last three. Against a struggling Milwaukee Brewers team, this was no different.
“There’s no explanation for it,” Clint Hurdle said, “you want to talk about figuring things out; figure the odds out on that.”
Liriano surrendered a run in the first when Jonathan Lucroy’s single, scoring Jean Segura. The damage could’ve been worse after Liriano walked leadoff hitter Nori Aoki on five pitches. However, Martin threw out Aoki trying to steal second base and Andrew McCutchen made a sensational catch at the wall to deny Braun of at least two bases.
The Pirates tied it up on Clint Barmes’s RBI double in the bottom of the fourth. Pedro Alvarez drew a two out walk then had his third career stolen base. Two pitches later, Clint Barmes took advantage of a hanging 2-2 curveball and hit it off the base of the wall in left field to score Alvarez.
Travis Snider would give the Pirates a 3-1 lead with his first home run of the season. After Starling Marte led off with a bunt single, Snider crushed the first pitch he saw hitting it over the seats in right-centerfield. The ball cleared the stands, bounced off the river walk and landed in the Allegheny River, an estimated 458 foot blast.
Milwaukee threatened in the top of the sixth after a one out walk and a fielding error on Clint Barmes. Liriano got Alex Gonzalez to flyout to centerfield and Justin Wilson was able to produce the same result with Aramis Ramirez pinch hitting to end the inning.
The Pirates broke the game open in the bottom of the inning. Clint Barmes reached on an error by shortstop Jean Segura, then reached third on a Starling Marte’s ninth double of the year. Four consecutive singles from Travis Snider, Andrew McCutchen, Garrett Jones, and Neil Walker made the score 7-1 and forced manager Ron Roenicke to remove Alfredo Figaro for Mike Fiers.
Seven runs would be plenty for the Pirates’ bullpen. Justin Wilson, Bryan Morris, and Jose Contreras pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings to close out the game.
It took the Pirates 126 games to record their fourth win of the season against the Milwaukee Brewers in 2012. In 2011, they only had three wins against the Brew Crew. This year, it took the 41st game of the season for the Pirates to reach their fourth win and they did so with an emphatic 7-1 win, Thursday night at PNC Park.
So does this remove the horseshoe?
“I don’t know man, I guess,” McCutchen said with a chuckle, “we have a long way to go.”
Photo courtesy of Newsday.com
