Jimmy Nelson pitches Milwaukee Brewers to 1st win, 6-0 over Pirates
By Phil Watson
This was the Jimmy Nelson we were expecting to see.
The Milwaukee Brewers’ 2014 Minor League Pitcher of the Year, Nelson had scuffled in a 2½-month call up to the big leagues to close the season, going 2-9 with a 4.93 ERA and 1.457 WHIP in 12 starts and two relief appearances covering 69.1 innings.
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But he was dominant in the Pacific Coast League, going 10-2 with a sparkling 1.46 ERA and 0.919 WHIP in a circuit known for its high altitudes and offensive fireworks.
Nelson didn’t inspire a lot of confidence with a rough spring, posting a 6.23 ERA in five Cactus League starts while allowing 26 hits in 17.1 innings.
Score this another win for the folks who say spring training statistics are meaningless.
On Saturday night, with the Brewers the last winless team in the majors at 0-4, Nelson showed some of that dominant form, blanking the Pittsburgh Pirates on two hits over seven innings with a career-high nine strikeouts as Milwaukee got off the schneid with a 6-0 victory at Miller Park.
Nelson walked two, rolled over two double-play grounders when he needed them and got timely hitting from the offense while turning in the best outing of his brief big-league career.
The only trouble Nelson had to navigate was in the fifth inning, when he walked the first two batters of the inning.
Nelson got a visit from pitching coach Rick Kranitz and then got former Brewer Corey Hart to bounce into a double play. Andrew Lambo hit an easy fly ball to left field and just like that, Nelson (1-0) was cruising again.
The Brewers (1-4) got everything they needed against right-hander Vance Worley (0-1) in the second inning.
Adam Lind, moved up to the cleanup spot on Saturday, led off with a sharp single up the middle, giving the former Toronto Blue Jay nine hits in his first five games for the Brewers, tying a club record held by Paul Molitor (1978) and Dave Parker (1990).
Aramis Ramirez followed with a double to center field that left runners at second and third and Lind scored on a groundout by Khris Davis.
After Jean Segura walked, Hector Gomez—in the lineup in place of the slumping Scooter Gennett—lined a double to left to score two more runs and give Milwaukee a 3-0 lead.
Davis led off the bottom of the fourth with a double to right field and Segura followed with his first home run of the season, a 440-foot blast into the seats in left-center field that gave Nelson a 5-0 lead to work with.
Milwaukee got some insurance in the seventh. Hector Gomez led off with his second double of the game and pinch-hitter Logan Schafer bunted him up to third.
Carlos Gomez then hit a rocket to the wall in right-center to score Hector Gomez for a 6-0 Brewers lead.
Will Smith worked a perfect eighth inning, striking out one, and Jonathan Broxton worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning, also recording a strikeout.
The Brewers are still only hitting .230 as a team, but six of their seven hits on Saturday night were for extra bases. Gomez was 2-for-3 with his pair of doubles after going 3-for-20 in a September call up last season.
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Francisco Cervelli and Starling Marte had the only two hits—both singles—for the Pirates (1-4).
Nelson, whose starts have been plagued by control problems and high pitch counts, needed only 88 pitches to work seven innings on Saturday.
The Brewers will go for the series win on Sunday when they roll the rotation back to the top with right-hander Kyle Lohse (0-1, 21.60 ERA, 3.000 WHIP), who was hammered by the Colorado Rockies on Opening Day.
The Pirates were scheduled to counter with their ace, left-hander Francisco Liriano, but he went on paternity leave Saturday. Instead, Pittsburgh will call up right-hander Casey Sadler from Triple-A Indianapolis to make his first big-league start.
Sadler had a 7.84 ERA and 1.645 WHIP in six relief appearances for Pittsburgh last season.