Brew Crew Unloads Two-Out Thunder to Romp 9-1

Corbin Burnes had an easy opener; Derek Holland fanned the first two Brewers, then gave up a first-pitch, solo shot to Jedd Gyorko. J-Bell led off the second with an infield single but went nowhere. Dutch Over whiffed the side, with a walk tossed in. The Bucs had nada going on in the third. Milwaukee opened with a bopped batter and two-bagger. Two more K almost got him out of it, but Ryan Braun whacked a 3-2 heater into the seats to put the Brew Boys up 4-0. Josh singled with two away in the fourth, again with no result. With two outs, Holland walked a guy and gave up a two-run bomb to Jacob Nottingham; three two-out homers in four innings isn’t real strong finishing. That was followed by another rap, erased trying to steal on Jake Stallings. Stalls had a good frame, singling in the fifth, but like the other Pirates runners, never made it to second. Derek walked a pair around two outs, and he was tapped for a two-run double before nailing the third out, ending his night at 100 pitches.

 Kevin Newman walked with two gone in the sixth and stayed put. Nick Mears was waved on and zipped through the inning. David Phelps climbed the hill in the seventh (Burnes was at 93 pitches) and K’ed the first two Buccos. Sticking with the evening’s program, he then gave up a two-out dinger to JT Riddle, his first of the year. Gyorko went non-conformist when he homered again with only one out. An error and single left Mears in the more usual two-out hot water before Sam Howard took the ball and closed it down. Drew Rasmussen tossed the eighth and surrendered a walk. The Bucs sent out Dovy Neverauskas, who matched Rasmussen. He put it away 1-2-3 in the ninth.

If you ever wondered how important getting that third out is, Derek Holland gave up all eight of his runs with two away (twice with the bases empty) on three homers and a double. Three of the hits were on two-strike sinkers (and the other was on a first-pitch sinker), so maybe he needs to mix it up more, locate better or maybe he loses something after so many tosses. Still… 

Notes:

• The Pirates had four hits; J-Bell had two of them.
• The Brew Crew had eight hits – four left the yard and two more were doubles. JT Riddle’s homer, on the other side of the pillow, was the Bucs first extra-base hit in 26 innings.
• Lots of whiffing – 15 Pirates fanned along with a dozen Brewers.