The Milwaukee Brewers sure can beat the Pittsburgh Pirates. They can beat them big. They can beat them little. They can beat them any which way.
The Brewers will look to sweep their series in Pittsburgh on Thursday, which would make them 6-0 against the Pirates after sweeping them in a home series last week.
In the current series, Milwaukee outslugged Pittsburgh 12-8 on Tuesday, then earned a 3-1 win on Wednesday as five pitchers combined on a one-hitter.
The margin in three games last week in Milwaukee was a combined 15-5, meaning the Brewers were averaging 6.75 runs against Pittsburgh before Wednesday’s relative squeaker.
Different day, different formula, same outcome against the Pirates.
“It was one of those days you had to grind it out, figure out a way to win, and we did it,” second baseman Kolten Wong — who had the first of Milwaukee’s four hits Wednesday, plus a walk and a sterling play to start a double play — told Bally Sports Wisconsin.
Pittsburgh switched tactics and made a game-day change Wednesday, going with Dillon Peters as an opener, with originally scheduled starter Bryse Wilson following.
That went well as the two combined for six one-hit, scoreless innings. However, it still wasn’t enough.
“It worked,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We got all the situations we wanted and just didn’t win the game.”
For Pittsburgh, it was a familiar outcome against the Brewers with a chance Thursday to salvage one win in the series.
The Pirates will be without shortstop Kevin Newman, who went on the 10-day injured list Wednesday because of a groin strain. He will be sidelined for three to five weeks, according to team director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk.
“It’s an unfortunate thing,” Shelton said of Newman, who got hurt during the Tuesday game. “Kind of felt like he was finding his groove offensively. Anytime you lose someone who plays a lot of innings for you, it’s unfortunate.”
In the series finale, Milwaukee right-hander Freddy Peralta (0-1, 7.50 ERA) is scheduled to oppose Pittsburgh left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 3.86).
Peralta is coming off a no-decision Friday in the Brewers’ 4-2 loss at Philadelphia, when he allowed one run and three hits in five innings with six strikeouts and two walks.
It was a strong bounce-back for Peralta, who had an 11.75 ERA after his first two starts and has been working on some mechanics.
“It’s a good sign for me,” Peralta said. “It’s what I’ve been working on, and finally I was feeling a little more comfortable than the last two games.”
Peralta is 2-1 with a 3.19 ERA in 14 games, five of them starts, against Pittsburgh.
Quintana is looking for his first win since last Sept. 5 when he was pitching for the Chicago Cubs.
Most recently, he got a no-decision Friday in a Pirates’ win against the Cubs, giving up two runs and three hits in 4 2/3 innings with three strikeouts and three walks.
Against the Brewers, Quintana is 9-4 with a 2.78 ERA in 18 games, 17 of them starts, and he has won his past three starts. The nine wins are his most against any team.
–Field Level Media
