After getting shelled by the Minnesota Twins Thursday Night, the Milwaukee Brewers once again couldn’t bring runners in against the 4-17 Pittsburgh Pirates. The Brewers give them their fifth win after basically no one except Ben Gamel and Christian Yelich showed up with a bat.
What a way to ruin Craig Counsell’s 50th birthday.
Too Many Mistakes
Infield singles are killing the Brewers. It is a combination of bad luck, shifts, and just downright terrible decision making in the infield.
Adrian Houser pitched seven innings and did give up four runs and nine hits. However, he is not completely to blame for those. In the fourth inning, the Pirates got a run off an infield single after an error and advanced runners after a throwing error. After another single brought in a run, another infield single allowed a third run to be scored in the inning. Sloppy pitching and fielding cost the Brewers three runs, and Pittsburgh was not even done scoring runs.
Luck on Pittsburgh’s side
Along with the infield singles and error help, I have never seen a luckier player against the Milwaukee Brewers than Bryan Reynolds. The catch he had against Yelich in the outfield was ridiculous and could have started a Brewers rally. Then, he hit a ridiculously low ball from Alex Claudio in the eighth inning to bring in two more runs. He is a solid baseball player, but I usually only ever hear his name when it’s against the Brewers.
Also, you run into the Brewers on a night where you give up five walks in the first six innings and only give up a solo home run?
I am not trying to bash the Pirates here, but they are not the best team in the league right now. Their pitching was not terrible, but also wasn’t spectacular and ran into another game of almost zero offense from Milwaukee.
Brewers Offense
Ben Gamel hit a solo home run in the second inning. Christian Yelich hit another one in the eighth. Luis Urias hit a single in the ninth. That was it for Brewers hitting for the night.
Avisail Garcia, Ryan Braun and Manny Pina were all missed at the plate during the Brewers’ loss. There is no reason your team should get five hits against a team that is 4-17 and you’re coming off a tough loss the day before.
Did you see the bottom of the eighth inning? Justin Smoak and Brock Holt both went for a pop up and both missed it! And then the Pirates immediately got another infield bunt-single? And then gave up a base clearing triple to Reynolds? That summed up the game and starting to sum up the Brewers 2020 season.
Another run would score in the eighth as well, followed by another base hit. Urias did start out the ninth inning with a hit, but nothing else would materialize.
The Brewers fall to the Pirates 7-2. They are now 11-13.
Game Takeaways
Ben Gamel is back. Gamel went 3-4 with a solo home run and RBI. It is nice to see him hitting the bat well again.
Christian Yelich Hit His Seventh Home run. All hail the GOAT.
Play the Hot Bat Instead of the Matchup Sometimes. This strategy is not currently working for a 60 game schedule. Garcia, Braun and Pina are all hitting the ball well. There is no need to sit them over and over unless they needed a day or have a minor injury. Those players bring life to the line-up, and some of the only players showing emotion out there right now.
Hello Andy Haines? The Brewers are hitting way too many grounders that are clearly pitches out of the zone. If random people on Twitter and Social Media are noticing trends, you really hope the Brewers hitting coaches are as well and can work on this. A slow grounder with the bases loaded or runners in scoring position should not be acceptable. Will the trade deadline give Milwaukee a spark? Could the sign someone like Yasiel Puig to mix things up?
I Still Love This Team. This team can still make the playoffs. This team can still get on a roll and start to click offensively. They need to figure things out, but they still have more than half a season to figure it out. All teams will have frustrating nights like this. I am sure the Brewers are just as frustrated.
Happy Birthday Craig Counsell. We all believe in you.
Make sure to follow me on Twitter @BrewersRaptor and follow us @WiscoHeroics1 for more great content. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in Wisconsin Sports, click here.
