Pitch By Pitch

It’s not like the Pirates deserved a 5-1 lead midway through last night’s game, and so it wasn’t entirely surprising when it disappeared. Two runs scored after a Brewer error helped to keep the 3rd inning alive. Two runs came in the 5th on a Jason Jaramillo double immediately after Eric Hinske and Andy LaRoche were hit by pitches.

Paul Maholm didn’t have the same command that he had in his 3 wins this season. He walked 5 batters and gave up 7 hits over his 5.1 innings of work.

Walks have been a problem in the last two games against the Brewers. Pirate pitchers have given up 17 walks in 16 innings (1.06 BB/Inn). Prior to this series, Pirate pitchers had given up 65 walks in 158 innings (0.41 BB/Inn). The Brewers walked just one batter last night.

Another subplot for this series has been the beaned batters. Things started to get ugly in the series opening game on Monday when Jeff Karstens seemingly intentionally hit Ryan Braun (who homered in his first at-bat of the game) to start the 3rd inning. Braun was quite upset by the pitch, and John Hirschbeck warned both benches. Later in the game, Jason Kendall was hit by Jesse Chavez in the 6th and by Evan Meek in the 8th, but no ejections were made. After the game, Ryan Braun had this to say:

Asked if Karstens drilled him intentionally, Braun said, “Probably, yeah. It’s rare for major-league pitchers to miss by that much with a fastball.”

Then, issuing a not-so-wise warning to the commissioner’s office, Braun added, “We play them about 17 more times (actually 13). Tell Mr. Selig, we’ll see what happens. It’s going to be interesting.”

Last night, Brewers’ starter Dave Bush hit three Pirate batters (Freddy Sanchez in the 1st and Eric Hinske and Andy LaRoche in the 5th).

There’s something to keep an eye on in the next 13 Brewers/Pirates matchups.

The Pirates managed 7 hits last night, and they came from an unlikely crew: the RBI double by Jaramillo, Brian Bixler avenged his 4K night by going 2-4, Ramon Vazquez singled in his only at-bat, Eric Hinske had a 2 RBI double, and Brandon Moss and Freddy Sanchez added hits.

If you’re keeping track at home, you can make that 17 consecutive losses at Miller Park for the Buccos. They try to reverse the trend at 1:05 today.

Ryan Braun threatens the Pirates

This game was not pretty and not a fun one to listen to, but despite it all, the Pirates still found themselves with a chance to win late in the game.

The Bucs scored 2 runs in the top half of the first inning thanks to four consecutive singles from the top of our order, followed by a J.J. Hardy error. Jeff Karstens looked bad in his 5 innings of work, and he served up the Brewer hitters early and often. He gave up 5 runs on 3 homers in the first three innings.

Jesse Chavez and Evan Meek each pitched a scoreless inning, and the Pirate bats fought for 2 runs in the top of the eighth to tie the score at 5-5.

Then, the bullpen collapsed.

Coming into tonight, John Grabow was 1-0, pitching 10 innings for 8H, 0R, 0ER, 3 BB, and 10K. Tonight, he pitched 1/3 of an inning for 2H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 0K.

Tyler Yates’ struggles continued last night. He pitched 1/3 of an inning for 0H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, and 0K. His ERA for the season is up to 9.95.

Sean Burnett entered to get the final out of the 8th, but it was too little, too late. The damage was done.

Brian Bixler played shortstop in place of the injured Jack Wilson. He went 0-4 with 4K.

Positives from tonight: Adam LaRoche, Nyjer Morgan, and Freddy Sanchez continue their hot hitting. Andy LaRoche has an 11 game hit streak.

The Pirates have now lost 16 consecutive games at Miller Park! That’s just ridiculous, and it needs to end tonight.

Paul Maholm @ Dave Bush – 8:05

Miller Park: Not a Friendly Place