Pirates Drop Rubber Match 2-1 in Dillon Peters Debut

The Pirates offense didn’t do much going into the bottom of the 6th inning. Other than Kevin Newman’s double in the third inning and a sequence of a sac bunt and infield single, that had been the offense. 

Bryan Reynolds managed to hit the Pirates hardest ball of the game, with a single going 104 MPH off of the bat. That single would be hit number 54 against the Brewers in 157 at-bats, a .349 batting average if your scoring at home.

The offensive woes would continue into the 9th inning. Going into the bottom of the 9th, eight straight Pirates hitters had been retired. The Buccos would need to have some late-inning magic after David Bednar kept it a one-run game in the top of the inning.

The Pirates would go down in order against Josh Hader, falling 2-1 in the rubber match against the Brewers. They ended this game with just four hits and fell to 42-76.

The Buccos start a three game series against the L.A Dodgers on Monday.    

Dillon Peters made his Pirates debut Sunday, and for the most part, he didn’t disappoint. Peters used his fastball and changeup combination very effectively today and induced eight swings and misses on the afternoon because of said combo.

Peters threw a total of 75 pitches on the afternoon, and 69 of them were from the fastball and changeup duo. Aggression was shown in Peters’ start, where he threw 19 first pitch strikes out of the 22 batters he faced. Peters did give up some hard-hit balls; four out of the five top exit velocities came from Brewer’s hitters, the ball seemed to trend up in the zone in these instances.  

You honestly couldn’t have asked more from Peters today; he went 4.2 IP, five hits, two runs (one earned), walked three, and struck out three. If it wasn’t for an error by Rodolfo Castro and a misread fly ball from Gregory Polanco, we could be talking a clean sheet. His fastball topped out at 92.2 MPH and sat around 90. With injuries and IL stints becoming more and more common with the Pirates, Peters might have earned another start. 

Stat of the Day 

Out of the previous 18 games played prior to Sunday’s game against the Brewers, only seven of them have been within three runs. Those dates are 04/18, 06/11, 06/12, 06/13, 07/04, 08/03, 08/04.  

Moments that Mattered

• Dillon Peters limiting the damage after a run, scoring on an error in the first inning
• Kevin Newman’s double in the 3rd inning and small ball to score him.
• Duane Underwood pitched a solid 2.0 innings of work to keep the game a 2-1 deficit.
• David Bednar was dominant again in one inning pitched.  

Takeaways

Peter’s didn’t Peter out: After a couple of bad breaks from the defense, Peters kept his cool and showed why Ben Cherington wanted to acquire Peters. On his radio show today, Cherington mentioned that Peters has been through some bad luck and the underlying numbers showed a different picture than what the main numbers show.

Kevin Newman has doubled again!: After a historic performance on Saturday, Newman doubled again in the third inning and now has hit a total of five doubles in his last three games. In Newman’s last seven games of work, he has put together a .333/.359/.528 slash line in August.

Mr. Freeze Offense: After a tremendous game, one of the doubleheader, Pirates fans were hopeful for an offensive explosion from the Pirates in the next two games. This would prove to be false hope, unfortunately. The Pirates could only manage one extra-base hit in the last two games and failed to convert with runners in scoring position going a combined 1-8.