Pirates Shut Down By Misiorowski, Drop Series vs. Brewers; Short Start for Skenes

The much-anticipated pitcher’s duel between Paul Skenes and Jacob Misiorowski at American Family Field turned one-sided.

Skenes (4-7) lasted only 4.0 innings while Misiorowski (3-0) continued his early dominance as the Pittsburgh Pirates were defeated 4-2 by the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday afternoon.

How We Got There

The Brewers (45-36) scored four runs against Skenes in the bottom of the second inning. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Joey Ortiz hit a dribbler back to the mound but brought home a run on the groundout.

Eric Hasse followed with an RBI double to shallow center to put Milwaukee ahead 2-0. After the lineup flipped over, Sal Frelick hit a grounder to second baseman Nick Gonzales, who delivered an errant throw home which allowed another run to score. Christian Yelich capped off the big inning with an RBI single.

Misiorowski blanked the Pirates (32-50) across 5.0 innings pitched, but Pittsburgh got on the board on Tommy Pham’s RBI single in the seventh. Spencer Horwitz hit a two-out RBI double in the eighth to cut the Brewers’ lead in half.

Trevor Megill closed out the win for his 18th save of the season.

Key Moment

The Pirates had a runner on third with one out in the top of the first, but Spencer Horwitz and Nick Gonzales both struck out. After that, Jacob Misiorowski settled into a nice groove.

Star of the Game

Jacob Misiorowski set a career-high with eight strikeouts in his 5.0-shutout innings. He allowed two hits and walked a pair for his third-straight win to start his career.

Stat to Know

Paul Skenes had allowed two runs or fewer in each of his last nine starts and 14 of his 16 starts of the season entering play.

Notable Performances

• Paul Skenes: 4.0 innings, four hits, four runs, two walks, four strikeouts, 78 pitches/50 strikes
• Mike Burrows: 2.1 innings, no hits, no runs, one walk, one strikeout, 31 pitches/20 strikes
• Tommy Pham: 2 for 4, one RBI
• Spencer Horwitz: 1 for 3, one double, one RBI, one walk

Noteworthy

• Oneil Cruz was dropped from the leadoff spot in the Pirates’ lineup to fifth. Cruz was removed from Tuesday’s game by manager Don Kelly after not running out a double play ball.
• Tommy Pham recorded his third-straight multi-hit game. He’s batting .636 (7 for 11) during that stretch.
• Jacob Misiorowski has only allowed three hits and two runs through the first three starts of his career — 16.0 innings.

Up Next

The Pirates have a day off on Thursday before starting their last homestand prior to the All-Star break against the New York Mets on Friday night. Neither club has announced a starting pitcher. First pitch: 6:40 p.m. ET.