Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jeff Locke started and ended his 3-plus inning start Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers the same way – with a walk.
In fact, Locke combined with four Pirates relievers to allow nine walks in a 9-5 loss to the Brewers.
Locke (8-6) came into the start on a five-game winning streak when pitching at PNC Park and had not lost since June 16. He allowed five runs on seven hits, while also walking five batters.
After surviving the first inning, Locke allowed two Brewers to reach base but also got two outs when his mound opponent Chase Anderson came to bat. Normally it is safe to assume that the inning will end without harm, but instead, Anderson singled on an 0-1 fastball to bring home the game’s first run.
One strike away from minimizing the damage to one run, Locke instead allowed a single to Jonathan Villar as the Brewers added a second run to their cause.
The third inning did not start any better for Locke, who surrendered a lead-off single to Ryan Braun and walked Jonathan Lucroy on four pitches. Though the next batter Chris Carter struck out, both Braun and Lucroy each advanced a base on a double steal.
Just a half-inning earlier, the Pirates retook the lead on a Josh Harrison RBI double and a Jordy Mercer two-RBI single, but this advantage was quickly eliminated on a Scooter Gennett ground-rule double that scored both Braun and Lucroy.
The final straw came for Locke in the fourth inning when he walked the pitcher Anderson, allowed Villar to single once again and walked Hernan Perez.
Perhaps the only Pirate to have a shorter leash in this game than Locke was manager Clint Hurdle, who was ejected for the fifth time this season.
Hurdle argued a call made by home plate umpire Sam Holbrook in which a ball hit off Braun’s bat was ruled foul. Braun had hit a 1-0 Locke pitch in front of the plate that bounced and hit the Brewers left fielder in both the helmet and shoulder. Hurdle voiced his displeasure feeling Braun was in fair territory when he was struck, something that would have resulted in an automatic out.
His removal was the 11th Pirates ejection of the season – the most in the National League Central.
So it was bench coach Dave Jauss who took the ball from Locke and placed it into Jared Hughes’ glove in a bases-loaded, no-out situation.
Hughes appeared as though he would leave the bases loaded after getting Braun to pop out while also striking out Lucroy, but he walked Carter resulting in one run scored in the inning.
David Freese tried to get the Pirates back in the game hitting an RBI fifth-inning double to score Starling Marte, but the Brewers quickly responded half an inning later with three runs of their own.
A.J. Schugel struggled as Villar walked, Perez singled and Braun walked once again loading the bases. Lucroy then singled home two runs as Arquimedes Caminero would replace Schugel.
Caminero would minimize further damage to a sacrifice fly.
Gregory Polanco was responsible for the fifth and final Pirates run singling off Brewers reliever Jacob Barnes to score Adam Frazier. Frazier came into the game as part of the double-switch, which allowed Caminero to pitch and the new third baseman reached base by error.
Juan Nicasio pitched the eighth inning for the Pirates and allowed Braun to hit his second triple of the season. He scored on a Lucroy sacrifice fly.
This series concludes when Francisco Liriano (5-9, 5.11 ERA) faces Matt Garza (1-3, 5.74 ERA). Liriano is 6-6 with a 4.59 ERA in 16 career games (15 starts) against the Brewers.
Photo credit: @Pirates
