WP: Clay Holmes (1-1)
LP: Brent Suter (8-6)
SV: Felipe Vazquez (23)
HR: Max Moroff (3), Jordan Luplow (1,2), Starling Marte (13), Gregory Polanco (16)
All teams go through losing streaks. Even the best teams take a streak here and there. Right now, it’s the Brewers turn to take one.
Coming out on game one, where they only scored one run, the offense was looking for a better showing against Pirates starter Clay Holmes. Unforutnately, it didn’t go too well for them. They did get baserunners, managing four hits and two walks off of Holmes. However, they could not convert those into runs, as Holmes pitched six shutout innings and struck out six.
In fact, it was their hitting with runners in scoring position that was the problem in this one. In total for the day, they went 2-for-14 as a team with runners in scoring position, and left 11 runners on base. Entering the ninth inning, they were 0-for-9 as a team with runners in scoring position in this game. Not bringing those runners in was what doomed them today.
On the pitching side, Brent Suter did ok today. He pitched five innings and allowed just a run on two hits, through one was a home run. Unfortunately, the usually sure-handed bullpen just couldn’t keep the deficit down. Jeremy Jeffress allowed a run on two hits in the sixth. Dan Jennings allowed a solo home run in the seventh. Aaron Wilkerson allowed three solo home runs (the first two back-to-back) in the eighth inning. That put the Brewers in a 6-0 hole.
The Brewers did mount a comeback attempt in the ninth. Hernan Perez singled and Jacob Nottingham walked to lead off the inning, and Lorenzo Cain singled to load the bases. After Christian Yelich struck out for the second out of the inning, Jesus Aguilar singled to drive in the Brewers two runs of the game. Their attempt ended there as Travis Shaw struck out on three pitches to finish the game.
With the two losses today, the Brewers officially fall out of first place in the NL Central as the Cubs take a one game lead (pending their game tonight). They are also 1-6 on their current road trip following a 6-1 home stand. They can at least go into the All-Star Break on a better note with a win tomorrow. Jhoulys Chacin will face Joe Musgrove in the final game of the series. First pitch is at 12:35 pm.