The Pittsburgh Pirates have not played well against divisional opponents this season, though they have played well against the NL Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals. But the Pirates were not playing St. Louis at home this weekend, that was last weekend and it's all in the past now. The Pirates had to travel to Milwaukee to play in a place that has been friendlier to them in recent years compared to the past, but the "House of Horrors" known as Miller Park was exactly that for the Pirates this weekend.
In Sunday's contest the Pirates sent left-hander Jeff Locke to the mound against Taylor Jungmann of the Milwaukee Brewers. Both pitchers had pretty good days in a game that started to look like runs would be a premium. However, the Brewers would not have that on this day.
The Pirates jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a base hit from starter Jeff Locke that scored Jaff Decker who had tripled earlier in the inning. After five innings, the Pirates held a 1-0 lead.
However, the Brewers waited and waited but finally did come through and score some runs to back Jungmann's solid outing. Khris Davis doubled, his 11th of the season, to put the Brewers ahead 2-1 driving in both Carlos Gomez and Aramis Ramirez in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Brewers essentially put the Pirates out of their misery in the bottom of the eighth inning by scoring four runs. Adam Lind reached base on a fielding error by Pirates first baseman Travis Ishikawa to score Jonathan Lucroy and load the bases in the process. This made the game 3-1 in favor of the Brew Crew. Aramis Ramirez then scored Ryan Braun on a sacrifice fly to put the Brewers up 4-1. Shane Peterson put the nail in the coffin when he doubled, his fourth of the season, to put the Brewers up 6-1 and score Carlos Gomez and Adam Lind.
Jeff Locke, while not pitching great, still had one of his better outings. Locke lasted 7.1 innings giving up three runs on eight hits. This is one of his better outings because Locke is a fifth starter. He doesn't have lights out stuff like a Gerrit Cole, but he still kept the Pirates in the game. If one were to ask Clint Hurdle about Locke's outing, odds are he will take 7.1 innings pitched with three runs given up any time out from his fifth starter.
ANALYSIS: The Pittsburgh Pirates rode into the All-Star break on a three-game win streak, all of those coming against the St. Louis Cardinals. Now the Pirates must face a three-game losing streak and stare it right in the face. They are not as bad of a team as they showed over the weekend in Milwaukee. They should not have been swept but the fact of the matter is that they were.
The Pirates must find some ways to score runs again. They have the potential to do it and call it beating a dead horse, but they scored runs against a very good St. Louis team last weekend. With the Pirates set to take on the Kansas City Royals starting Monday, arguably baseball's best team, the Pirates need to have a short memory about this weekend and move on and focus on the Royals.
BIG PICTURE: The St. Louis Cardinals are in extra innings against the New York Mets at the moment so the Pirates will be either 5.5 games back or 4.5 games back of first place in the National League Central division depending on the outcome of that contest. The Pirates are still within striking distance, and while they do have a tough schedule ahead they were in the same position last weekend. Don't expect the Pirates to continue to lost because that's not what they are about. The Royals very well could sweep them, but to think that is going to happen would be a bit foolish.
For all intensive purposes everyone can go ahead and call this series an awful one for the Pirates. While some may disagree, that's not an unfair assessment because the Pirates clearly are better than the Brewers. However, keep in mind the fact that the Brewers have won 16 of their last 22 games now. Furthermore, last time anyone checked, this is a major league level of competition so the Brewers are not going to just lay down and concede games to the Pirates. It's not going to happen and it didn't. Now the Pirates have to turn this around, put it in the rear-view mirror, and start to play better baseball.
