The Pittsburgh Pirates earned a sweep against the Milwaukee Brewers winning 5-2 Sunday afternoon. The win pushes the Pirates to .500 for the first time this season.
For a second consecutive game, it was a chaotic first inning for both sides. In the top half, the Brewers had the bases loaded with two outs and Gerrit Cole [2-0] got Gerardo Parra to fly out to left field ending the threat.
In the bottom half of the frame, the Pirates got three consecutive singles with Andrew McCutchen’s driving in both runs. Neil Walker drew a walk meaning that Matt Garza [0-3] was unable to retire any of the first four Pirate batters.
Cole got into another jam in the second inning. Scooter Gennett opened the inning with a single and Luis Jimenez also singled. Gennett attempted to reach third on the play. Marte’s throw was in time however Josh Harrison was unable to field it cleanly. Jimenez advanced to second base on the throw.
Two batters later Jean Segura had an RBI ground out to score Gennett. Jonathan Lucroy singled hitting a ball Harrison’s way. The throw from deep in the hole. Pedro Alvarez was unable to handle the throw which took a short hop prior to reaching him and this tied the game at two.
Alvarez put the Pirates in front with a third-inning home run into the Brewers bullpen. The 2-0 pitch traveled 411 feet and was the fourth homer of the season for Alvarez.
Cole ended his outing retiring 12 of the final 13 batters he faced with the lone batter that reached base, Lucroy would be out when the next batter, Ryan Braun grounded into a double play. Cole pitched six innings allowing five hits, two runs, one walk and six strikeouts. He threw 96 pitches, 65 of which were strikes.
“He increased his fastball usage,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “I think he threw approximately 20 breaking balls, 74-75 fastballs and over a dozen of them were in the first two innings. I think he got caught a little bit in-between [his game plan]. It was a fist fight for two [innings] and then he put his foot down.”
“I had a pretty good day,” Cole said. “Garza was in and out all day, and I just tried to match him and not give the lead back from him. I was able to make some adjustments as we started getting deeper into the ball game.”
The Pirates gave Cole further run support in the sixth inning. Alvarez walked and Jordy Mercer was hit by a pitch. Chris Stewart, in his first start of the season had a hard-hit single which scored both batters thanks in part to a wild pitch from Garza.
“The first two at-bats I was a little bit out of whack,” Stewart said. “The third at-bat I had guys on, and I told myself to stay calm and comfortable up there, get a ball up so I can drive it and fortunately he left up in the middle of the plate and drove the runs in.”
Jared Hughes came in and struck out two batters in his inning of work. Tony Watson also retired the side in order striking out one batter.
Mark Melancon pitched the ninth inning earning his second save of the season. The Pirates faced the minimum amount of batters from the third inning through the rest of the game.
The Pirates will start a 4-game series with the Chicago Cubs Monday when A.J. Burnett [0-1 2.25 ERA] takes on Jake Arietta [1-1 1.98 ERA].
Of note: Mercer was removed from the game in the sixth inning due to pain in the rib cage area. The injury occurred when he was hit by a Garza pitch. Jung-ho Kang came in to replace Mercer.
Mercer was well enough to talk to the media following the game.
“I’m feeling better than I was,” Mercer said. “I’ve never been hit there before and I couldn’t catch my breath. I’ve recovered a little bit now and the x-rays were negative so it’s just a bruise. We’ll come in tomorrow and see how it feels. Hopefully it doesn’t bruise much and get stiff on me.”
Much has been made about Melancon fastball velocity dropping 2-3 miles per hour early in the season, however in this game he was able to pop 90-92 miles per hour routinely into Chris Stewart’s glove.
“I really don’t pay a lot of attention to velocity because it’s all about location and results,” Melancon said. “If you locate, usually the results will follow. Obviously with velocity there is a component to it, but results are more important. The velocity is going to come it’s not something I’m worried about. Generally speaking my velocity early in the season in past years has been lower and climbs throughout the year. I look at it more as a positive thing.”
