If the Milwaukee Brewers could pick one opponent to play for an entire season, it likely would be the Pittsburgh Pirates considering the latter’s lack of success at Miller Park. The latest example came in this game, a 2-1 loss to the Brewers.
Following a rocky second inning, A.J. Burnett settled in retiring 10 straight Brewers hitters. Burnett would last seven innings allowing two runs and striking out six batters while using 99 pitches.
The hiccups came in the second inning when Burnett walked lead off hitter Aramis Ramirez and then allowed Carlos Gomez to double. Following what was thought to be an important strikeout, Alex Gonzalez doubled both runs in.
Marco Estrada has has plenty of prior success against the Pirates and this game would prove no different. Despite a fastball that consistently hit 89 miles per hour, Estrada consistently placed the ball on the outer half of the plate to frustrate the Pittsburgh batters.
This result worked as he would set down the first 14 Pirates hitters. Once again, the Pirates would fail to provide the needed run support for Burnett.
The Pirates lone run came in the top of the seventh inning. Following an Andrew McCutchen line out, Gaby Sanchez singled. Russell Martin then hit a sharp ball that shortstop Jean Segura ran to his right for and grabbed before making a leaping throw to get Sanchez out at second base. This proved to be the play of the game as when Neil Walker hit a deep double, it was just Martin that scored instead of two runs.
Both Brandon Kinzler and Bryan Morris did their jobs in the eighth inning as both kept the game where it was at.
Jim Henderson came in to close the door and got two outs before he twisted his ankle and had to come out of the game. This forced Francisco Rodriguez to come in. Rodriguez was called up last week prior to the final game of the previous series against the Pirates that was played at PNC Park. He did his job though earning a save by getting Walker to ground out to second base to end the game.
These two teams will meet again tomorrow as Jeff Locke [4-1 2.73] will face Mike Fiers [1-2 5.93] who is making a spot start. The game is scheduled for 4:10 ET.
