On this day in 1997 the Brewers beat the Pirates 4-1 at County Stadium. Jeff Cirillo hit a two-run double and Scott Karl allowed a single run on seven hits over 7.1 innings, walking none and striking out four in the first-ever meeting between these two franchises.
The game was hardly treated as a historic event at the time, as just 17,539 fans came out to witness the Friday night contest. It was, however, the first of 249 meetings in the all-time series, with the 250th scheduled to be played tonight. Here are some quick stats on the matchup:
- Even after Wednesday's loss, the Brewers lead the all-time series 139-110. Most of that advantage is relatively recent, as the Brewers went 11-4 against Pittsburgh in 2012, 12-3 in 2011 and 13-5 in 2010 before losing ten of their first 15 games against the Pirates this season.
- These two teams have played 17 games at Three Rivers Stadium (Brewers lead 12-5), 21 games at County Stadium (Brewers lead 11-10), 105 games at Miller Park (Brewers lead 71-34) and now 106 games at PNC Park (Pirates lead 61-45).
- The Brewers' largest shutout victory of all time was a 20-0 win over the Pirates in April of 2010.
- Ryan Braun is a career .318/.408/.589 hitter against the Pirates, and leads all Brewers with 116 hits in the series. Prince Fielder had 27 home runs in 98 games as a Brewer against the Pirates.
- Longtime Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson had 120 hits against the Brewers to lead all Pittsburgh players. Brian Giles leads all Pirates with 15 homers against the Brewers, while current Brewer Aramis Ramirez is tied for sixth with eleven.
With help from Brewerfan.net and the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:
- Brevard County Manatee Brent Suter, who turns 24.
- 2000-01 Brewer Henry Blanco, who turns 42.
- Seattle Pilots manager Joe Schultz, who would have turned 95. We covered his birthday in this space two years ago.
Today is also the 34th anniversary of the Brewers using three position players to pitch in the same game in an 18-8 loss to the Royals in 1979. We covered that event in this space last year.