Brewers cruise to 7-2 win over Pirates, bullpen in lockdown mode again

Brewers secure series opener, exploit Pirates’ mistakes

Box Score

The Brewers put together a convincing 7-2 win against the Pirates on Tuesday night, an opportunistic performance with the playoffs approaching.

The offense scored seven runs on just six hits, largely making the most of Pittsburgh’s mistakes.

Perhaps the most remarkable player on the end of Pittsburgh’s mistakes was Rhys Hoskins. The first baseman had quite the eclectic night of plate appearances, reaching base four times while going 0-for-0. He reached on a walk, catcher’s interference, hit by pitch, and walked again with the bases loaded in the seventh inning.

It didn’t take long for Milwaukee to get on the board, scoring three runs in the second inning. Willy Adames registered the first single of his two-hit night and a stolen base, followed by Hoskins’ walk.

Then Sal Frelick launched a high fastball to the warning track. The pulled fly ball barely escaped the reach of the right fielder, but was enough to log an RBI double.

That notched the first run of the game, but Joey Ortiz added with a full-count single. Once again, the hit was placed just far enough away from the fielder to avoid the diving effort. Ortiz’s hit plated two runs, bringing the score to 3-0.

The Brewers scored again in the third inning with an odd sequence of events allowing them to expand their lead to 4-2 after the Pirates put together a rally in the bottom of the second. Adames led off the inning with a double before Hoskins reached on a catcher interference. Ortiz hit into what easily could have been a double play, but an errant throw from first baseman Billy Cook — trying to throw around Hoskins, who wisely ran in his throwing path — allowed all the runners to advance, including Adames coming home.

The seventh inning was another example in their season-long portfolio of punishing opponent sloppiness. Jackson Chourio led off with a single and two walks loaded the bases with no outs.

After Gary Sánchez struck out, Adames worked a full-count walk to score a run and Hoskins followed with a four-pitch walk of his own. In nearly an instant — hardly putting the ball in play — the Brewers’ lead had ballooned. Sal Frelick hit a sacrifice fly to add to that margin, putting Milwaukee up 7-2 for the eventual game-winning score.

Tobias Myers made the start for Milwaukee, often flirting with danger, but ultimately had an innocuous outing. Through four innings, Myers allowed two earned runs but stranded runners in three of the four frames.

He struck out just two batters while allowing six hits, a somewhat troubling trend over his past three starts. In that time, Myers has 10 strikeouts over 14 innings pitched while allowing 19 hits. It might be a harmless note with the team in the final stretch, but it wasn’t exactly a convincing performance as a tune-up before the season’s end.

The Pirates managed to score two runs against Myers in the second inning, leading off the inning with three consecutive hits. Jared Triolo scored their initial run on a single with Nick Yorke tacking on another with a sacrifice fly. Myers worked his way out of the jam with another flyout, and despite allowing a single to push another runner into scoring position, he got another lineout to center to end the inning.

That’s when the revolving doors of Brewers relievers entered and shut down the Pirates. The Brewers’ bullpen has been a strength this year, and this was yet another example of their consistency.

First, it was Hoby Milner and Colin Rea pitching the fifth and sixth innings. Milner didn’t allow a baserunner and ultimately recorded the win.

Rea came back out for the seventh inning, falling into some trouble with a pair of singles slapped through the left side of the infield. He bounced back by catching Cook looking on a strikeout at the bottom of the zone.

Trevor Megill entered and recorded a double play against his first batter faced. Joel Payamps and Joe Ross finished off the game in the final two frames, including Ross working around two leadoff baserunners to shut down the Pirates’ lineup in the ninth.

It was a relatively comfortable win for Milwaukee, but it has to be said that the Pirates didn’t play a clean game. Errors, multiple walks with the bases loaded, and a 1-for-8 performance with runners in scoring position ensured Milwaukee left the stadium with a win in the series opener.

The Brewers will chase an early series victory in their matchup tomorrow. After securing back-to-back 90-win seasons, they’ll look to add to that total. First pitch is set for 5:40 p.m. with Freddy Peralta matched up against Luis L. Ortiz.