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With rain in Pittsburgh to start the day, the Brewers had to wait 2 1⁄2 hours before tonight’s game finally started. Unfortunately, the game was not worth the wait.
The game started off well enough. Mike Moustakas hit a solo home run in the first inning, his 25th of the year, to give the Brewers an early 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, that was the only lead they would hold in the game. The Pirates responded quickly, recording four hits and two walks in the bottom of the first. The end result was four runs scored and a 4-1 lead for the Pirates.
For a little while, the Brewers did stay within striking distance of the Pirates. Yasmani Grandal added a solo home run in the third inning, closing the gap to 4-2. The Pirates got that run back in the fourth on a Kevin Newman home run. They started widening the gap in the sixth, getting two runners on base with a double and a walk, then Starling Marte drove them both in with a triple, making it a 7-2 game. What little hope the Brewers had left was extinguished in the eighth, as the Pirates scored five more times, capped off by a Melky Cabrera three-run home run to make it a 12-2 game.
The pitching staff took a beating in the game. Adrian Houser got the start and pitched four innings, allowing five runs, seven hits, and three walks. Freddy Peralta followed and allowed two runs, four hits, and a walk in two innings of work. Burch Smith, freshly called up from the minors, got the last two innings, allowing five runs, six hits, and a walk in his relief appearance.
On offense, the Brewers managed seven hits as a team, but were only able to get two runs across. Christian Yelich reached base in all four plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Mike Moustakas also reached base twice with a hit and a walk. Unfortunately, no other Brewer was on base more than once, and Eric Thames, Keston Hiura, and Ben Gamel, in the middle of the order, went a combined 0-for-12. The team also went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left seven on base.
The Brewers can still finish the first half of the season on a high note, and potentially still in first place in the division. They will finish their series against the Pirates tomorrow afternoon, hoping to enter the break strong. Chase Anderson will face Joe Musgrove, with first pitch set for 12:35 pm.