Milwaukee Brewers go from sublime to ridiculous in 10-2 loss to Pirates
By Phil Watson
The first week of the regular season could hardly have gone worse for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Well, they could have gone 0-6.
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But on Sunday at Miller Park, things went from sublime to ridiculous, as a dropped fly ball by Khris Davis opened the floodgates for six unearned runs in the top of the ninth, killing any hopes of a comeback in a 10-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The loss dropped the Brewers to 1-5 to close out the opening homestand.
On Sunday, Milwaukee was handcuffed by right-hander Casey Sadler, who made his first major-league start in place of staff ace Francisco Liriano, back in Pittsburgh on paternity leave. Sadler limited the Brewers to two runs on four hits in five innings, striking out five and walking one, and the Pirate bullpen put up four innings of one-hit relief.
The five-hit performance dropped Milwaukee’s team batting average to .219 through the first six games.
The big blow for Pittsburgh (2-4) was a three-run homer in the top of the sixth by Andrew McCutchen, back in the lineup after sitting out Saturday night’s game with a sore knee.
McCutchen’s second homer of the season gave the Pirates a 4-2 lead against right-hander Kyle Lohse (0-2), who surrendered four runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings, striking out five.
As is the case with small sample sizes, Lohse’s ERA came down from 21.60 to 11.17 in the loss.
Gregory Polanco gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, lining a single to right off the glove of second baseman Hector Gomez.
Gomez, in the lineup for Scooter Gennett for a second straight game, led off the bottom of the inning with a double to left. After Lohse struck out by bunting a two-strike pitch foul, Carlos Gomez followed with his first home run of the season to left-center field to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead.
Carlos Gomez doubled with two outs in the fifth, but was picked off second to end the threat.
In the top of the sixth, Polanco doubled to lead off the inning and Jordy Mercer lined a single to right before McCutchen unloaded his homer to right-center field.
The Brewers had something going in the seventh against reliever Arquimedes Caminero. Davis walked to lead off the inning and Gennett, pitch-hitting for Hector Gomez, lined a single to right field.
But Gerardo Parra, batting for the pitcher, popped out to third and Carlos Gomez grounded into an inning-ending force out.
Then came the ninth against reliever Tyler Thornburg. With a runner at first and one out, Tony Sanchez lined a ball at Davis that clanked off the left fielder’s glove.
Davis said he was distracted by pinch-runner Sean Rodriguez, who had broken for second base before Sanchez hit the ball.
“I think the runner was going and I kind of peeked up and was trying to get ahead of the play before it actually developed,” Davis told MLB.com. “That was a lack of concentration on my part. That inning’s a big inning. It’s all my fault.”
Corey Hart, the former long-time Brewer, followed with an RBI pinch-hit single to right. Thornburg recovered to strike out Polanco, but Mercer and McCutchen had consecutive RBI singles to center before Neil Walker unloaded a three-run homer to right that made it a 10-2 laugher.
Thornburg was charged with six runs—all unearned—in his 1.2 innings of work. Neal Cotts came on to strike out the lone batter he faced to finally end the inning.
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Will Smith struck out the only batter he faced in the seventh and Jeremy Jeffress came on and got the only hitter he faced on a lineout.
Carlos Gomez was 2-for-4 in the game. Ryan Braun had the Brewers’ only other hit and Adam Lind’s five-game hitting streak was snapped with an 0-for-3 performance.
Jonathan Lucroy, hitting just 1-for-20 in the first five games, sat out Sunday in favor of Martin Maldonado, who was 0-for-3 and struck out twice.
The Brewers now head on the road for six games in the NL Central, playing three games in four days at St. Louis (3-2) beginning Monday at 3:15 p.m. for the Cardinals’ home opener before heading to Pittsburgh for three games next weekend.
Matt Garza (0-1, 7.20 ERA, 1.800 WHIP) is scheduled to start for Milwaukee against right-hander Adam Wainwright (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.833 WHIP).