Pirates, Chad Kuhl dominate Brewers 9-0

WP: Chad Kuhl (4-2); LP: Chase Anderson (3-3); Save: none; Home runs: Pit - Adam Frazier (2), Jordy Mercer (1), Josh Bell (2); Mil - none

Not every game can be exciting...or even very interesting. The Milwaukee Brewers (20-15) didn’t hit, pitched poorly, and gave up an unearned run in a ho-hum 9-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates (19-16) at Miller Park. Chase Anderson turned in his second straight poor start (perhaps he should look at being ready to go in the first inning; he has now allowed three homers before recording an out this season). The bullpen poured some gasoline on the situation. And Pirates’ starter Chad Kuhl absolutely dominated the Brewer bats, working seven shutout innings with just one hit and two walks while fanning eight. But it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Miller Park, so attendees had that goin’ for ‘em.

The Brewers started slowly and it went downhill from there. The Pirates scored on the second pitch of the game when Adam Frazier took a 90 mph Anderson fastball right down the middle out to straight away right. With two down in the inning Chase walked Josh Bell, and with Bell running on a 3-2 pitch Corey Dickerson doubled into left center to score Bell. The Brewers trailed two-zip heading into the bottom of the first.

Jody Mercer turned on an inside fastball with one down in the top of the second and drove it out to left for a 3-0 lead. Anderson walked Frazier one out later but then retired ten straight into the top of the sixth as the Brewers remained scoreless.

The Pirates blew things open in the sixth. Starling Marte took a two strike curve ball away down the right field line for a triple. Bell was retired, but Dickerson singled to center to make it 4-0. That ended Chase’s day, with Jacob Barnes coming in. Barnes was touched up for the second appearance in a row, giving up four straight singles (the last on a two-strike bunt from Kuhl that was thrown away by Barnes) to plate three more, two of them earned. Anderson’s day ended with 5 ¹⁄₃ innings, five hits, two walks, five earned runs, and three strikeouts. That left things at 7-0 into the bottom of the sixth with fans thinking about what else might be available to entertain them on a Sunday afternoon.

Barnes’ not-so-good day ended with ²⁄₃ of an inning, four hits, two runs (one earned), and a strike out. Jorge Lopez was assigned mop-up duty and he brought a leaky bucket, serving up a gopher ball to Josh Bell in the seventh and a sac fly in the eighth to bump the lead up to 9-0. Taylor Williams swabbed up the mop-up with a scoreless ninth, striking out the side around a single and walk.

Milwaukee’s offense through seven innings against Kuhl consisted of a one out single from Domingo Santana in the second (erased on an Eric Sogard double play grounder), a one out walk to Santana in the fifth, and a one out walk to Jonathan Villar in the sixth.

MIlwaukee finally got a runner to second base in the bottom of the ninth when Hernan Perez singled with one down and moved to second on defensive indifference (no, that’s a stolen base) against Richard Rodriguez. However, Rodriguez ended up striking out six of the seven batters he faced to end the game, giving Pirate pitchers 14 on the day.

Sogard finished his day with a double play and two strikeouts and a season batting average at an even .100. Ryan Braun was 0-4 with three k’s. Jett Bandy was 0-3 with three k’s.

After an off day tomorrow, the Crew (20-15) welcomes in the first place Cleveland Indians Tuesday night. Corey Kluber (5-1, 2.41) starts for the Indians against Wade Miley (1-0, 1.50), making his second start for the Brewers. Catch Jaymes’ series preview to learn everything pertinent about the Tribe.

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