Text Size:
A|
A|
A
Email
Print
MILWAUKEE -- It might be tempting to fault the Pirates' rookies for this excruciating 8-7 loss to Milwaukee late Saturday night at Miller Park, given that errors by Pedro Alvarez and Neil Walker led to the Brewers' tying run in the seventh inning and the winning run in the 11th on Lorenzo Cain's walk-off single.
Both plays could have been made.
Both plays should have been made.
At the same time ...
"Mistakes are going to happen. That's part of the process," Pirates starter Zach Duke said. "But these guys also were out there keeping us in the game."
Walker went 3 for 6, including a seventh-inning home run that gave the Pirates what should have been a safe 7-4 lead. Alvarez snapped out of a 2-for-27 slump with a double, single and walk in five plate appearances. And the franchise's other anchor rookie, Jose Tabata, homered and went 3 for 6 with two RBIs, raising his hit total to 87 since being promoted June 9. That total is tied with St. Louis' magnificent Albert Pujols for highest in the National League in that span.
Add it all up for Walker, Alvarez and Tabata on this night, and it was 8 for 14 with two home runs, two doubles and three RBIs.
Game: Pirates vs. Milwaukee Brewers, 2:10 p.m., Miller Park.
TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).
Pitching: RHP Charlie Morton (1-9, 9.35) vs. RHP Dave Bush (6-11, 4.76).
Key matchup: Pedro Alvarez has not taken long to dominate Bush, 4 for 5 with two home runs, a double and a walk.
Of note: Morton has a 10-26 career record with matching 5-13 records at home and on the road. The difference is a 5.02 ERA at home, 7.15 on the road.
Moreover, all through 2010 against nemesis Milwaukee, those three are batting .377 -- 40 for 106 -- with seven home runs and 21 RBIs.
Sure, the Pirates are 5-12 against the Brewers, 17-45 since the start of the 2007, and have lost all but eight of the past 46 games at Miller Park. But it would appear the rookies are the ones making the greatest strides toward changing that, and that they are doing so with little help.
Consider that Duke slipped back to erratic form after an outstanding start last week against the New York Mets: He was charged with four runs over 5 1/3 innings, including the first of Prince Fielder's two home runs and another by Jonathan Lucroy.
"It was definitely a battle," Duke said. "Thankfully, we were still able to score some runs and have the lead."
Duke had an early 6-2 lead, thanks to Tabata's fourth home run of the season on Milwaukee starter Chris Capuano's second pitch, and Chris Snyder's three-run shot in the third. That was Snyder's 13th home run, second in as many nights, and it gave him two of the team's meager total of eight three-run shots all year.
After Duke gave up those solo home runs, Walker's sixth home run -- a tall arc to right off reliever Mike McClendon -- brought the Pirates the 7-4 cushion in the seventh and marked just the sixth time all season the team hit that many in a game.
But the precarious middle relief -- meaning most everyone besides Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan -- combined with Alvarez's error to account for a 7-7 tie in the bottom half.
In a three-pitcher, three-batter sequence to open it, Sean Gallagher gave up a Ryan Braun single, Brian Burres gave up Fielder's two-run home run on a poorly located 1-2 slider, and Chan Ho Park gave up Casey McGehee's single. Park's runner reached third, but he was close to getting out of his jam after a strikeout for the second out. But Lucroy's sharp grounder caromed off Alvarez's glove and into shallow left field to tie.
"It did take a hop, but I just wasn't able to get a handle on it," Alvarez said.
The Pirates put men aboard in the eighth, ninth and 11th innings, to no avail. Tabata opened the ninth with a hustling double, and Alvarez drew a two-out walk. But Ryan Doumit struck out. Walker roped a two-out single in the 11th. But Garrett Jones struck out, capping an 0-for-6 game and extending a 3-for-35 slump that might be the worst of his career.
"It's a struggle right now," Jones said.
Hanrahan, Chris Resop and Wil Ledezma each pitched a scoreless inning going into the 11th, but Ledezma gave up a leadoff single to Braun, and the stage was set.
Fielder grounded almost directly to Walker, positioned behind first base and just on the outfield grass as part of the Pirates' standard shift for Milwaukee's top power threat. But it caromed off Walker's glove, and he recovered too late. Runners were at first and second.
"It's a play I've got to make," Walker said. "I'm in a little bit of a different position, but I've still got to catch that ball. At the least, I've got to get one of the two outs there. I'll take the blame."
Ledezma got McGehee to fly out, but Cain lashed a 1-0 fastball into the left-field corner for what would have been extra bases had it not ended the game.
"We kind of showed our youth on those plays a little bit. If we make those, the game might be different," manager John Russell said. "But we've also got some other guys really struggling right now."
The Pirates have lost all 11 of Duke's career starts in Milwaukee.
The franchise's worst season in a half-century is 14 losses shy of 100 at 43-86. That includes losses in the past 12 road games.
Colin Dunlap's blog on the Pirates is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
