When a team is in a losing streak, there is no elixir. Everything stacks up in a bad way.
The Pittsburgh Pirates, who have slipped to third place in the National League Central, fell to the Brewers, 2-5, at American Family Field in Milwaukee on April 19. It was their sixth straight loss and dropped them to 34-36 on the season.
The 0-5 shutout loss the day before was not prevented by ace Mitch Keller. This time, the bullpen collapsed in the eighth inning. That’s why they can’t get out of the losing streak.메이저사이트
With the score tied at 0-0, Pittsburgh opened the scoring in the top of the third inning when leadoff hitter Bae Ji-Hwan drew a walk from Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta. Brian Reynolds followed with a two-run homer (No. 8) to give the Brewers their first lead in three games since a three-run shot against the Chicago Cubs on April 16.
Starter Luis Ortiz held up better than expected, allowing one run on four hits and three walks with six strikeouts in 4.2 innings until a leadoff single in the fifth and a two-out walk. But in the bottom of the eighth inning with a 2-1 lead, the bullpen proved to be too much to handle.
Second reliever Angel Perdomo pitched a scoreless seventh inning with no hits and two strikeouts, but gave up a walk to leadoff hitter Jesse Winker and was replaced by Dauri Moretta. Moretta walked the first batter he faced, Willy Adames, to put runners on first and second with no outs.
The centerpiece of a big inning in baseball is a walk. He was able to get left fielder Laudy Tellez to fly out to right field, but allowed Contreras to tie the game and swing the momentum back in Milwaukee’s favor.
Pittsburgh manager Derek Selton brought in closer David Bednar after another walk put runners on first and third. However, he gave up a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and a two-run double to Luis Urias in the eighth to end the game.
Bae, who was batting leadoff, went 1-for-3 with a walk and a single, dropping his batting average to .265. Pittsburgh had just four hits after six the day before. The offense was anemic, totaling 10 hits in two games. During the six-game losing streak, Pittsburgh has scored 17 runs and committed 43 errors.
Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Christian Elrich is safe at second base on Jesse Winker’s single in the fifth inning, trailing 2-0. Milwaukee (Wisconsin)|AP
In the NL Central, considered the weakest division before the season, the top three teams – first-place Milwaukee (37 games), second-place Cincinnati (37.35) and third-place Pittsburgh (34.36) – all have negative run differentials. Instead, the fourth-place Chicago Cubs (33-38) are the only team in the division with a positive run differential at +9.