You could hear the dozens of PNC Park fans left screaming “cheater” to Ryan Braun. That’s what two rain delays totaling two hours and 13 minutes will do.
A runner sliding on the bag, the ball hitting the backstop, the ball popping in Herbie Andrade’s glove in the bullpen could be heard by everyone left at PNC Park. None of this did the Pittsburgh Pirates any well as it lost 2-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Almost every last one of the 18,016 in attendance left during one or both of the delays.
Jimmy Nelson [3-6] earned the victory pitching six innings and allowing four hits. Nelson also struck out seven batters in an outing Pirates manager Clint Hurdle compared to the first time he pitched against them this season.
“He had big time finish to his sinker and had depth to the slider he threw,” Hurdle said. “Our game plan was to get him up and pitches looked like they were up out of hand but there was so much late action and we weren’t able to do much with it.”
Burnett [6-2] got the loss despite allowing one run on five hits in seven innings. The run was allowed following the first rain delay in the fifth inning on an RBI Jean Segura ground out.
Burnett was pleased with the way he used his pitches despite the loss.
“I used the changeup more tonight, I mixed it in quite a bit,” said Burnett. “They’re [the Brewers] an aggressive team so I just wanted to be aggressive to them.”
The Brewers second run was second in the eighth inning. Antonio Bastardo allowed two one-out singles and after a wild pitch led to Carlos Gomez advancing to third base. Bastardo had a 12-pitch battle with Ryan Braun before the Brewers right fielder saw a pitch he liked and placed it into right field scoring Gomez.
Francisco Rodriguez earned his 11th save of the season pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
Neil Walker was 3-for-4 at the plate with one double in the loss.
These two teams will play again Tuesday evening when Francisco Liriano [3-4 3.24 ERA] face aTaylor Jungmann [ML Debut]. Liriano is 6-4 with a 4.14 ERA in 13 career games [12 starts] against the Brewers.
Photo courtesy: USA TODAY Sports
