If you recall, it was not even two weeks ago when I wrote that the Pirates might have a chance at overtaking the Cardinals in the NL Central if they lost one game per series in August and finished 23-10. They have played ten games since then. They have lost four times to the Brewers. They’ve lost four times in a row to the Brewers since September 1st, seven times in a row to them since the All-Star Break, and nine times in ten games to them after winning five of their first six in April. The Pirates’ pitiful performance against the Brewers this year is one thing that I’m going to be thinking about on the morning of the Wild Card Game this year.
This game had all of the hallmarks of one of those magical wins the Pirates recorded in PNC Park against the Cardinals in July, except that they were playing a much worse team than the Cardinals that they simply cannot beat right now by virtue of the fact that they’re wearing blue and gold. AJ Burnett had a bad first inning and gave the Brewers a 3-0 lead, but was solid enough in the four innings after that. The Pirates started to creep back with a run in the fifth. In the seventh, they loaded the bases up against a trio of Brewers relievers, but couldn’t come through with Pedro Alvarez, Aramis Ramirez, and Gregory Polanco all striking out in big situations. This was probably the inning that would come back to haunt the Pirates the most; they used Ramirez and Travis Snider (who drove in the one run with a bases loaded walk) off the bench this inning and couldn’t come up with more than one run. It seemed like it might not matter in the eighth, when Andrew McCutchen rocketed a hanging Corey Knebel curve into the right field grandstand to tie the game, but the Pirates came up with precious little offense in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh innings.
The twelfth was where the luck ran out for the bullpen, as Mark Melancon and Tony Watson’s unavailability coupled with AJ Burnett’s short outing and some matchup work from Clint Hurdle in the late innings lead the game into Radhames Liz territory. Liz struggled badly with his command in the twelfth, walking two hitters to lead directly to a Brewers run. The Pirates answered right back with a Gregory Polanco homer and a Josh Harrison single, but Harrison was erased on a confusing strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play where he broke for second (with a full count! and also, this was the second time this happened) but stopped halfway there when McCutchen swung and missed. That killed the 12th for the Pirates and Liz had another bad inning in the 13th, serving up two runs to the Brewers that the Pirates couldn’t respond to.
I don’t know what else to say about it other than that it was frustrating. I thought Hurdle was probably right in emptying his bench in the seventh to try for a big hit (Ramirez pinch hit for Jordy Mercer that inning), but it didn’t work, and the Pirates didn’t have enough offense left. The Cardinals lost to the Reds, so the Pirates could have made up a game in the standings last night. If only for the Brewers.
Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
