Offensive Explosion Leads Pirates to 14-4 Win over Brewers in Game 1

The Pirates offense has been struggling the entire month of August. Out of the 11 games played prior to this game against the Brewers, the offense has scored less than four runs a total of seven times.

Thanks to an offensive explosion from Kevin Newman (four doubles) and the entire lineup smacking the heck out of the ball, the Pirates offense exploded for 14 runs.

The Pirates used speed to get things going.

If I don’t show the videos from the 3rd inning, I think I deserve to be flogged, so here you go.

That's what speed do. pic.twitter.com/lA1fUSXFQG

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 14, 2021

The Cheetah causing chaos. pic.twitter.com/9lo12kw7sh

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 14, 2021

After the 4th inning, the Pirates combined for nine hits, and everyone except Wilson and Reynolds got a hit. This is what weeks of offensive frustration coming to an abrupt end looks like.  

The bottom of the 5th inning seemed to last an eternity and ended with the Pirates scoring six runs. Those six runs came by way of a Bryan Reynolds two-run homerun, Newman’s third double of the game, a Wilmer Difo single, and Ke’Bryan Hayes beating out a double play. 

The game got so out of hand that the Brewers sent out the second baseman Jace Peterson. (Tony La Russa would not appreciate the two runs the Pirates scored off of Peterson.)

Bryse Wilson struggled a ton today. After giving up a lead-off homer to start the game, Wilson let up several hard-hit balls exceeding 100 MPH. Wilson’s line read 4.0 IP, 7 hits, 4 ER’s, 0 BB’s and 1 K.   

After an offensive explosion that Pirates fans haven’t seen in quite some time, they scored two touchdowns and won game one easily, 14-4.

Game two is set to go at 7:05. Mitch Keller will take the mound for the Pirates as he looks to get back on track. 

Stat of the day

Bryan Reynolds came into this game against the Brewers with 50 hits in his career. The next opponent that comes close is the St. Louis Cardinals with 32. 

Moments That Mattered 

• The bottoms of the 3rd and 5th inning. 
• The 5-4-3 double play that was induced by Wilson in the top of the 3rd inning.
• Kevin Newman. That is all. 
• The Pirates went 8-16 with runners in scoring position
• The bullpen being solid 
• More Luis Oviedo evaluation

Takeaways

What got into Kevin Newman?!: Newman has gone 8-22 (.363) in his last seven games with six of the eight hits coming by way of the double variety. Newman tied the Major League record for most doubles in a game (4). The other Pirates to do it were Paul Waner and Adam Frazier. Everyone makes jokes about his lack of exit velocity and launch angle, but one can’t argue with his last week of success.  

Where has this offense been?: The phrase “a blind squirrel finds a nut every once and a while,” comes to mind here. Sure, this Pirates team isn’t what you call great, but what’s the main focal point? It should be about development and individual performances, and in this game, we saw some potential future building blocks perform well against a tough Brewers squad: Park 3-5, RBI, Hayes, 2-4, 2 RBI’s, Reynolds 2-3, 2 BB’s, 4 RBI’s, 1 HR, Castro, 2-4.

Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!: Rodolfo Castro has entered his name into the history books with his first five hits being homers, but when you take a look at everything he does, you should be even more encouraged. Today he hit the 4th highest exit velocity for the Pirates with his double at 112.5 MPH and then hit 107.6 MPH for his single; hell, even his ground out was 95.4 MPH. Once Castro can figure out fully what a major league season is, and reduce his strikeouts, he should be even more fun to watch.