Brewers Rout Pirates as Longball Makes the Difference

Going into this series, right after I'd decided to punt by trading two of the best cards on the team, here is a sentence I did not think I'd lead the writeup with: Last night, I took 3 of 4 from the Pirates and had one roll gone differently I'd have swept.

Steve's Pirates are pretty good this year. They're even better now that they have Carlos Rodon. I hoped to at least force a split this series, as I knew it'd be tricky to completely stave him off. But...somehow, Steve didn't get the rolls, most of his starters were listless and I took 3 of 4, with that fourth one coming down to the last out. Every game was close, many were back-and-forth, most of his starters were tough to score runs off of, and the Brewers are still a bottom feeder of the highest order. But I still won this series, my second series win in a row after losing or splitting my first ten. Definitely one way to start the second half.

Here now the writeup:

Game 1: Pirates 4, Brewers 2

W: Phil Maton

L: Jhoan Duran

So close. Soooo close.

The starting pitching here should be emphasized, as even with the game coming down to the ninth inning, it stayed close because of these starters, neither of whom were credited with anything. Freddy Peralta for Pittsburgh went 6 strong, only giving up 1 run on a Wilmer Flores RBI single, and 4 hits total. Zack Littell continued his underrated run, going 7, striking out 7, and only giving up 3 hits. The one run in the fourth came on a Cody Bellinger sac. Most of the hits while these guys were on came as a result of defensive split rolls. 

In the bottom of 8th, with Dennis Santana on, Xander Bogaerts singled on to begin the inning, then Heliot Ramos tripled him home, breaking the tie and putting the Brewers up 2-1. All I needed was for Jhoan Duran to strike out the side before the righties got up. That didn't happen. He struck out the lefties, hit Bellinger and gave up a single to Mookie Betts. Here I should have taken him out and put in either Kyle Finnegan or Lake Bachar. Instead I kept him out there. Steve made a move, and pinch hit Reese McGuire for Victor Scott, a move that would have dq'd the DH and put the pitcher in the 2 spot if the Pirates were to bat around.

It was a gamble that paid off. McGuire rocketed one to the seats, scoring 3 runs with 2 outs, and flipping the game. The Brewers tried to rally, and Connor Norby got the team's only stolen base of the whole series, but with runners on first and third both of my top two hitters bungled the chance. Inches away from a win, but that McGuire move killed me.

Fortunately things turned around after that

Game 2: Brewers 6, Pirates 4

W: Justin Verlander

L: Hunter Greene

SV: Kyle Finnegan

Full disclosure. When Steve offered me Justin Verlander for picks and Rodon, my first reaction was 'i dunno, chief'. JV's in his 40s, I keep hearing rumors he's thrown his last pitch, next year he'll have an AL card with limited innings. He was gonna be a cut for Steve, and now he'll be a cut for me most likely. Fine. But then I actually looked at his card, and heard myself going 'hey, that's not too bad'. And I figured I needed the innings, and went ahead with it.

I have seen Justin Verlander throw a gem in person. His first start in Milwaukee was similar. 6 innings, 5 hits, 5 Ks, 2 earned runs on one home run. And arguably that home run only happened because around when Tucker hit the single, I audibly said 'this is vintage JV'. Tucker hits a single, Bellinger rockets him home. Done deal. Barring that, JV was excellent, and did exactly what I needed him to.

Against Hunter Greene, I was bracing myself for a rough time. Immediately, first at-bat of inning one, Xander Bogaerts takes him yard. Two batters later Bryan Reynolds hits a solo shot of his own. This ensured I never trailed during this game. Now, was Hunter Greene still Hunter Greene? Absolutely. You'd be surprised to learn that he only struck out 3 batters, but all were consecutive to finish out his day in inning 4. An inning before that, he did give up an RBI single to Connor Norby [3 for 4 this game], making it 3-0, but that was at least a flashy way to go out.

Okay. So Verlander gives up the homer in the 6th, it's now 3-2. The Brewers need to strike back. With Clay Holmes on, and Connor Norby and Wilmer Flores on first and second, I make an error. With Matt McLain up, I forget to flip Nick Fortes's card over from the previous at-bat and assume a ballpark single [which were to 2 this game] has made it 2 outs. Not the case. The same roll, a 1-3, on McLain's card is a diamond, which were to 11. And with a low split roll, McLain hit a 3-run shot to pad the lead. I'm glad I caught that. 

Steve could have flipped the whole thing on two occasions. In the 8th, with a man on third, Steve rolled a diamond for Pete Alonso, which, again, were to 11. Too high. Measly sac-fly. Then in the ninth, after Giancarlo Stanton sac'd Bellinger home and the tying run stood on second, with Heriberto Hernandez up as a pinch hitter, the diamond got rolled again. And once again...too high. Those missed splits were the difference here, and locked in the MKE win at 6-4. HUGE. 

Game 3- Brewers 7, Pirates 6

W: Jacob Misiorowski

L: Carlos Rodon

SV: Jhoan Duran

Welcome back to Milwaukee, Carlos. 

The former Brewers hurler was, for the most part, his usual self repping the black and gold. In 5 innings, he struck out 6 Brewers and only allowed 3 hits. But those hits were some big ones. Let's go right to the fourth inning. He walks the first two batters. Then Heliot Ramos [who was excellent this series] doubles one of them home. Then Bryan Reynolds' sac fly gets the other home. Blake Perkins, somehow still listless against lefties this game despite that 2 column, walks, meaning runners on first and third. In walks Matt McLain, and once again, a three-run bomb is the difference maker. Dude's been struggling all year, now he seems to be picking up a bit. One more solo shot from Jackson Chourio in the 5th would seal the loss for Rodon.

Meanwhile, after an entire half of waiting, the Brewers finally called up Jacob Misiorowski. The big twist with the Miz is that, despite that card, he only struck out 2 guys all night. Everything else was leverage stuff and infield outs, mostly on Steve's hitting cards. The Miz allowed 5 hits, including a solo shot to Reese McGuire, continuing his onslaught against my team. 

Gotta be honest, the relief squad did make this a little closer than it needed to be. I took out Miz after he walked Kyle Tucker, then a pair of singles got him home. In the 7th, both Graham Ashcraft and Kyle Finnegan combined for 4 more runs allowed, all on some contact stuff from Javier Sanoja, Reese McGuire and a very helpful 2 run pinch hit single from Dane Myers. If it hadn't been for one more Brewer solo knock in the 6th, from Blake Perkins of all people, it could have gone to extras. Props to Jhoan Duran for actually completing a save this time.

Game 4: Brewers 4, Pirates 3

W: Kyle Finnegan

L: Dennis Santana

Here's a fun stat: I scored first in all 3 games I won. Even this one, which wasn't a win til very, very late.

In the third, with Wilmer Flores on, Jackson Chourio doubled the runner to third and J.P. Crawford sac'd him home. Like usual, we really couldn't do much else against Luis Castillo. only 2 Ks but a lot of groundouts and defensive plays. Jameson Taillon was similarly strong through 7, striking out 2 with 7 hits and only 2 runs. Those two runs were enough to give the Pirates the lead, on a solo shot from Luis Torrens [the backup catchers killed me this series] and an RBI single from Dane Myers [getting Torrens home actually]. It would be further buttressed in the eighth by a Pete Alonso solo shot, which could have been 2 had Bryce Johnson not been caught stealing.

The bottom of the eighth was the turning point. Phil Maton pitching, Crawford on 1st, and Drake Baldwin, who's been slumping like hell recently, was up. Somehow I got a lower homer split roll here, and Baldwin tied up the game. Glad to see him finally make those at-bats worthwhile. 

Finnegan did his job in the top of the ninth, now Dennis Santana had to do his to force extras. Like Duran in game 1, he struck out two batters but got a runner on, in this case on a Blaze Alexander double. Then Wilmer Flores and his insane clutch ability was intentionally walked to face Jackson Chourio. I then rolled...THE thing to roll in a walk-off situation, a homer/double split roll, meaning on the double roll [which I hit] it automatically became a single, as the man on second didn't technically need to go to third and only the lead runner's actions counted. So Chourio was the walk-off hero, and I made up for the game I blew to lead the series off.