Miller Park used to be a ballpark the Pittsburgh Pirates could not find success with and this held true once again Friday night as the home Milwaukee Brewers came away with a 4-1 victory.
Charlie Morton [6-3] suffered the loss allowing four runs on five hits in six innings pitched. He also walked more batters [3] than he struck out [2] in 90 pitches, 54 of which were strikes.
Morton’s first blemish came in the first inning when Gerardo Parra hit a leadoff double. He moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt from Jonathan Lucroy and scored on an RBI ground out from Ryan Braun.
The Brewers struck again in the fifth inning. Scooter Gennett was hit by a pitch and advanced to second when Mike Fiers [5-7] hit a sacrifice bunt. Two Pirates had been hit earlier in the game. Parra then doubled to right field easily scoring Gennett.
Jung Ho Kang attempted to rally the Pirates offense in the seventh inning with a one-out home run to left-center field. It was Kang’s fifth homer of the season and his first in one month. This also was the third and final hit of the night for the Pirates.
This rally fell short however as the Brewers struck for two more in the bottom of the seventh inning. Gennett scored when a Parra ground ball was mishandled by Pedro Alvarez and the second run crossed home when Lucroy grounded into a double play.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth earning his 20th save of the season.
These two teams will play once again Saturday evening as Francisco Liriano [5-6 2.98 ERA] takes on Jimmy Nelson [6-9 4.21 ERA]. Liriano is 6-5 in 14 career games [13 starts] against the Brewers.
Photo credit: Mike McGinnis/Getty Images
