Archive
Pirates beat 7/9
Pirates continue to struggle away from home
MILWAUKEE — After being swept in Houston, the road woes have continued this week for the Pirates, who have lost 21 of their last 23 away from PNC Park.
For manager John Russell, the trend is hard to figure out.
“It’s tough. I’ve never really seen much like it,” Russell said. “We can’t win on the road. I think it’s got to become a mentality at some point for these guys that they need to rise to the occasion on the road more.”
One thing Russell pointed out was a struggle in two key areas of the game: getting good pitching and scoring runs on the road.
Aside from that, Russell sees more mistakes away from home as well.
“I think on the road, we’ve found ways to kind of beat ourselves more than we do at home,” Russell said. “Especially the road trip when we lost a couple games in Detroit, if we make a couple plays we win. The same way in Oakland.
“Things that we need to do better as a team we don’t do. Part of that is youth, part of it is not making the play.”
Over the last 23 road games, the Pirates’ only wins have come in Chicago, when they took two of three from the Cubs from June 28-30. The club also took two of three from the Cubs at Wrigley Field in May.
Along with the two road series victories in Chicago, the Pirates have won just one other road series this season, April 19-21 in Milwaukee. The series victory snapped a 22-game losing skid for the Pirates at Miller Park.
Outfielders Andrew McCutchen and Lastings Milledge have both enjoyed plenty of success against the Brewers in their careers.
Entering Friday’s game, McCutchen had hit safely in 15 of his 17 career games against Milwaukee, going 26-for-75 (.347) with seven doubles, four home runs and 10 RBIs. At Miller Park, McCutchen’s average was even better as he owned a 12-for-31 (.387) mark.
Milledge had been even better in Milwaukee, going 20-for-45 (.444) in his last 11 games at Miller Park after going hitless in six at-bats in his first game in Milwaukee.
With that in mind, the Pirates will be looking to add a fourth road series win this weekend.
“We do it in Chicago, we play well there,” Russell said. “So we talked about that. We talked to the players a little bit about that, of the intensity and focus we have when we play in Chicago and trying to get that same focus.”
Reliever Gallagher expected to fill many roles
MILWAUKEE — After joining the club on Thursday in Houston, reliever Sean Gallagher was expected by manager John Russell to be available if needed Friday.
He’ll pitch in a middle-relief role for the club in the short term, though Russell expressed an interest Friday in stretching the right-hander out.
“We’d like to because he has that capability,” Russell said. “He’s got four pitches, he has started before. I think he’s going to be a guy that we could use in that multi-inning role.”
Gallagher was acquired by the Pirates on Wednesday, as they sent cash to the Padres in exchange for the right-hander, who had been designated for assignment by San Diego.
With the move to Pittsburgh comes a bit of familiarity for Gallagher, who began his Major League career with the National League Central rival Chicago Cubs.
Additionally, Gallagher pitched for Magallanes in the Venezuelan Winter League this past offseason, where Pirates first-base coach Carlos Garcia also was the manager. Garcia’s pitching coach on that Magallanes club was Pirates assistant pitching coach Ray Searage.
With that familiarity, Russell and his coaching staff likes the flexibility of Gallagher and what that could bring to the pitching staff.
“At some point, he is going to get stretched out,” Russell said. “That’ll be kind of the value that he brings as a guy that can pitch multiple innings out of the bullpen.
“We’ll see how it goes, he could work his way toward the back side a little bit or he gives us an option as a spot starter.”
D’Arnaud added to Eastern League ASG roster
MILWAUKEE — With a spot opening on the roster, the Harrisburg Senators and the Eastern League announced Friday that Double-A Altoona Curve shortstop Chase D’Arnaud was added to the Western Division roster for the Eastern League All-Star Game.
D’Arnaud replaces Richmond infielder Brandon Crawford, who is unable to play and will not be attending the game on July 14 at Metro Bank Park in Harrisburg, Pa.
With D’Arnaud marking the sixth Curve player selected to the All-Star Game, the Curve have tied the franchise mark for most players chosen in a single year. During the 2006 and ’07 seasons, the Curve also had six representatives.
Along with Harrisburg, the Curve have now tied for the most representatives on the Western Division roster. With seven selections, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats of the Eastern Division led all Eastern league teams.
D’Arnaud, the Pirates’ fourth-round pick out of Pepperdine in 2008, joins teammates Derek Hankins, Rudy Owens, Matt Hague, Josh Harrison and Hector Gimenez as the club’s representatives in the All-Star Game.
Worth noting
The Pirates announced Friday the signing of three more players from the 2010 First-Year Player Draft, all right-handed pitchers: 27th-round pick Kevin Kiels, out of Grossmont College; 41st-round pick Bryton Trepagnier, from East St. John High School; and 49th-round selection Logan Pevny of West Milford High School. … Friday marked the seven-year anniversary of the “Randall Simon incident” during the Sausage Race at Miller Park.
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Missed chances cost Brewers
MILWAUKEE — As important as it is to get runners on base, it does you no good when you can’t deliver clutch hits to bring them around to score. Just ask the Brewers.
As the Giants completed the four-game sweep with a 9-3 victory on Thursday, the Brewers went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position while leaving 17 on base. In the series, the Brewers went 3-for-42 with RISP and left 46 on base.
“Our hitting with guys in scoring position in this particular series did us in,” Brewers manager Ken Macha said. “Three for 42, that’s not going to win you many ballgames, particularly when you get behind early.”
Whereas the Brewers struggled to bring runners home, the Giants piled on five runs in the third and fourth innings on just three hits and two Milwaukee errors. In the eighth and ninth innings, the Giants tacked on a few more, two of which came on leadoff homers.
For the second straight game, the Brewers got a poor performance from their starting pitcher, as lefty Manny Parra surrendered six runs (four earned) on 10 hits and two walks while recording five strikeouts.
Parra (3-6) put the Brewers in an early hole in the first inning with a balk, which forced a replay of what would have been a lineout to center field by Aubrey Huff. After stepping back in the batter’s box, Huff lined a single to right field, driving home Andres Torres from third.
When asked if the umpire made the correct call on the balk, Parra took the high road.
“It’s a judgment call,” said Parra. “It’s not for any of us to really [decide]. It’s his call.”
Parra escaped with a scoreless second inning despite back-to-back one-out singles, but was roughed up again in the third, when Huff returned to the plate. With one on and none out, Huff belted an 0-2 splitter deep to right for his second home run of the series and 17th of the season.
“Really, the worst pitches I paid for were against Huff,” Parra said. “He had four RBIs against me and hurt me a little bit. But other than that, they were on fire. They were hitting even executed pitches and finding a way to get on base.”
For the Brewers, missed opportunities were the most obvious problem.
In the second, fifth and sixth innings, the Brewers stranded the bases loaded. After three straight two-out walks in the fifth, rookie shortstop Alcides Escobar struck out swinging.
An inning later, the Brewers got a pair of strikeouts by George Kottaras and Joe Inglett sandwiched around an RBI walk drawn by Carlos Gomez. After Inglett struck out looking, pinch-hitter Ryan Braun grounded out to second to end the threat.
With 17 runners left on base during the game Thursday, the Brewers set a new season high. It was the fourth time in club history in which the Brewers had 17 or more left on base in a nine-inning game.
The club record is 21 left on base, which has occurred three times, all in extra-inning games.
For a nine-inning affair, the Brewers record is 19 in a 7-6 win over Minnesota on May 16, 1986, one shy of the Major League record of 20, set by the New York Yankees in 1956.
With just three runs scored despite 20 baserunners on Thursday, the Brewers were swept for the first time by the Giants and dropped their fifth straight overall. Outscoring the Brewers, 36-7, in the series, the Giants bounced back after losing 10 of their previous 12.
“We played our best ball in this series,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “Coming off a tough series, too, it was great to see how we came out and played.”
With the loss, the Brewers’ home record fell to 17-26. At a .395 home winning percentage, Milwaukee is just barely ahead of Baltimore (.390) for the worst home record in the Majors.
After opening a stretch of 16 out of 20 games at home with four straight wins, the Brewers have gone just 2-7 at Miller Park since. With such poor all-around play — hitting, pitching and defense — over the past five games, a number of questions surround the Crew.
Along with the question of Macha’s job security, the most prominent of those questions is whether the Brewers will soon become sellers heading toward the July 31 Trade Deadline.
While it’s certainly hard to ignore the potential departure of teammates, McGehee hopes it’s not on the minds of any of them.
“If it is, you need to get out of here,” McGehee said. “If you ain’t worried about what you’re doing here, then you shouldn’t be.
“I’m not by any means saying anybody is doing it, but I’m saying if that’s your mindset and you decide to turn on and off depending on who may or may not be here tomorrow, you shouldn’t have been here in the first place.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Weeks finding ways to get on base
MILWAUKEE — Rickie Weeks may not be your prototypical leadoff hitter, but at least one statistic shows that he’s doing what a leadoff hitter should do, and that’s getting on base.
Weeks entered Wednesday hitting .270 on the season and had an on-base percentage of .369, nearly 70 points behind Justin Morneau, who leads the Majors. But Weeks was only four behind Morneau in total times on base, another category led by the Twins first baseman.
Out of a Major League-leading 391 plate appearances, Weeks had been on base 144 times, compared to 148 times for Morneau and Albert Pujols and 145 times for Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder.
Even more impressive is the fact that Weeks has done it without the benefit of the walks drawn by the three sluggers. Pujols led the league with 56, while Fielder was three behind him at 53 and Morneau was seventh with 49.
Weeks has just 39 walks, though his 15 times hit by pitch lead the Majors.
“He’s a unique leadoff hitter,” Brewers manager Ken Macha said. “He’s got the leadoff home runs, and he still gets on base.”
Weeks, along with right fielder Corey Hart, provide as much power out of the top two spots in the lineup as you’ll find in the Majors.
With 14 home runs and 50 RBIs, Weeks leads the Majors in both categories among leadoff hitters. Hart, who was named Sunday to his second All-Star Game, leads the Majors in home runs (16) and RBIs (49) since May 15.
“I don’t know if we would be 1-2 in most lineups, but we are in this lineup,” Hart said last month following a game in which he and Weeks combined to go 6-for-9 with two runs and three RBIs. “We try to get on base for the guys behind us. It’s nice to drive in runs as well, but I think our goal is to get on as much as we can for Prince and [Ryan Braun].”
Injured Gallardo won’t pitch in All-Star Game
MILWAUKEE — Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo will not pitch in the All-Star Game next week in Anaheim, manager Ken Macha said Monday.
After being named to the National League All-Star squad earlier in the day, Gallardo left Sunday’s game in the bottom of the third inning with a strained left oblique muscle.
Gallardo was still holding out hope of a quick return before a Monday visit with the team doctor, but Macha inserted a dose of reality. Macha said Gallardo would probably not make another first-half start and would definitely not pitch in next week’s All-Star Game.
“Throwing in the All-Star Game? No,” Macha said. “I’m saying that, best-case scenario, he’s probably going to be doing no baseball activities for at least 10 days. … He’s not going to pitch in the All-Star Game. You can’t have a guy walk off the mound one week and then put him in [All-Star] Game the next. No.”
The Brewers summoned outfielder Lorenzo Cain from Triple-A Nashville, and he was making his way to Milwaukee on Monday morning. According to Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, the idea behind bringing Cain to Milwaukee sooner rather than later was to avoid any potential logistical issues if Gallardo were to go on the 15-day disabled list.
Gallardo was evaluated by team physician William Raasch on Monday afternoon, and the strained left oblique muscle was confirmed. Officially, the team has listed Gallardo as day-to-day and the Brewers determined they would not make a roster move Monday.
If the doctors had determined that Gallardo would have to go to the DL, then the team would have activated Cain.
In that scenario, Gallardo would be eligible to return from the DL beginning July 20 and would miss a minimum of two starts.
“That’s the tough thing, whether to put him on the DL or not,” Melvin said. “If you don’t put him on the DL and you use the days, he could be ready the day after the All-Star break. But if you don’t pitch him this week, you’ve got seven days and you’ve got [three] days at the break, that’s [10] days.
Gallardo said he was feeling better Monday morning, though he described the oblique as still feeling tight. He described it Monday as feeling initially like a “cramping” sensation just before he exited the game Sunday.
Even if he’s unable to pitch, Gallardo said he planned to make the trip to Anaheim for All-Star festivities.
“He’s feeling decent, but this is something that’s [to be taken seriously],” Macha said. “I had Tim Hudson and he would get them every once in a while, and it’s a long process coming back if there is a tear in there.
“So [the doctors] have to figure out what’s going on in there [with Gallardo].”
Though he is sidelined by injury and may be forced to watch from the dugout, Gallardo remained enthusiastic about his first All-Star Game.
“I’m still excited about it,” Gallardo said. “It’s one of those things that we all look forward to. Hopefully I’m available, but we’ll see.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
No fun in the sun again for the Brewers
MILWAUKEE — Blame it on the shadows. Or the mistakes on the basepaths.
Whatever it was, the Brewers had another poor showing on Wednesday in a day game at Miller Park, which is starting to become a trend.
Offensive struggles in home day games continued for the Brewers, as Astros left-hander Wandy Rodriguez quieted Milwaukee, which lost, 5-1, to drop its first series of the homestand.
“We had just a couple chances to score,” said Brewers manager Ken Macha. “And we didn’t get it done. We had first and second, one out in the third inning, then we had a leadoff double in the sixth down by one and wound up having two outs on the bases there.”
Part of the problem offensively for Milwaukee was those outs on the basepaths. In the second, McGehee was caught off third on a grounder to third baseman Chris Johnson. As he returned, he tried to step over Johnson, but was called out.
Four innings later, McGehee doubled to lead off the sixth. Rookie catcher Jonathan Lucroy followed by bouncing one to Rodriguez, who faked to first before getting McGehee at third. During the next at-bat, Lucroy compounded the problem, as he was caught stealing second.
As strong as the Brewers have been overall offensively this season, they have struggled to hit well at home during day games. Through 15 home day games, the Brewers have just a .236 (123-for-521) team batting average, with just 52 runs scored and 15 home runs.
The offense looked good early in the second and third, but the Brewers only scored the one run in the second, combining to leave four runners on base in the two innings. Over the final six innings, the Crew was unable to put much together.
Rodriguez (5-10) tossed seven strong innings, giving up just one run on seven hits as he walked one and recorded six strikeouts.
“I thought his curveball was real good,” Macha said of Rodriguez. “When he got some guys on he went to that curveball, Rodriguez did, and it was very good.”
The Astros’ lefty outdueled Brewers starter Dave Bush, who went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits while walking five with three strikeouts.
Just as the Brewers have struggled at Miller Park during the day, the Astros knew coming in what kind of effect the shadows could have in the late innings of afternoon contests. With that in mind, they were happy to plate a pair against Bush.
“Playing in this ballpark, and when the shadows creep in, it was kind of nice to get those hits early in the game,” Astros shortstop Geoff Blum said. “You’ve got to be patient with Bush. He’s got four quality pitches, and fortunately for myself, he left a couple up and I was able to find some holes.”
Blum went 2-for-3 on the day with three runs scored, a double and two walks. In the fourth, Blum’s double sparked a two-hit, two-walk inning for the Astros that led to Houston tying the game at 1 on a wild pitch.
In the sixth, Blum’s leadoff walk resulted in the eventual winning run, which he scored on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze by Rodriguez.
Despite his third straight quality start, Bush (3-6) took the loss.
“It’s a disappointing game to lose,” Bush said. “But Rodriguez pitched really well. And he pitched a little bit better than I did. So good job for him, and he earned it for sure.”
It was reliever Carlos Villanueva, though, who let the Astros take control of the ballgame. Villanueva surrendered three runs on three hits in just two-thirds of an inning.
After taking the lead in the sixth, the Astros plated three runs in the seventh on three doubles off Villanueva.
“My job there is to keep the game the same way it is when I come in,” Villanueva said. “They hit my mistakes. I thought I made a couple [of] good pitches, but when I needed an out pitch there, I left the ball up and they put pretty good swings on them.”
With the loss, the Brewers finished 3-3 over the final six games of the homestand after sweeping the first-place Minnesota Twins to open the nine-game stretch at Miller Park.
While the end result, a 6-3 homestand, was good for the Brewers, the way they got there — especially in losing two of three to the fifth-place Astros — was not.
“We’ve got to go to St. Louis, and we’re going to have to play a little better than this [losing] two out of the three here,” Macha said. “Six and three on the homestand. [You] just look at it and say, before the homestand, you’d have taken that. But after the start we had, it’s a little disappointing.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
A Schelling For Your Thoughts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.