Pirates

Pirates Lose Sixth Straight After Bullpen Blows Game in 5-2 Loss to Brewers

Published

11 months ago

June 18, 2023

Recap

The Pittsburgh Pirates (34-36) had everything under control until the eighth inning, where their bullpen blew up yet again, giving the Milwaukee Brewers (37-34) a 5-2 victory.

The Pirates have now lost six games in a row and were swept by the Brewers.

Luis Ortiz looked like a different pitcher than he has as of late. Although Ortiz went just 4.2 innings, he threw his changeup effectively.

To everyone’s surprise, Ortiz threw his changeup 17 times on Sunday and received four whiffs on it. The even better news for Ortiz and the Pirates was that he limited hard contact with the changeup with an average EV of 83.6 mph.

Unfortunately for Ortiz, he just couldn’t maintain control during the entire outing and was forced to leave the game earlier than the Pirates wanted to.

The bullpen has got to figure something out eventually.

Key Moment

In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Brewers trailed 2-1, and with runners on first and second, William Contreras delivered a 103.1 mph single tying the game at two apiece.

Now with David Bednar in the game for the Pirates with the bases loaded and one out, Raimel Tapia nearly hit a grand slam but ended up being a sac-fly making it a 3-2 lead for the Brewers.

Finally, Luis Urias singled to left field, scoring two more runs to put the nail in the Pirate coffin, making it a 5-2 lead.

Star of the Game

Freddy Peralta deserves a lot of credit in this game after a terrible start to the inning and has 40+ pitches in the first two innings combined.

Peralta allowed just two earned runs and went a full six innings, which seemed improbable early on in the game.

Hidden Stat

The Pirates have now dropped their record to 22-11 when scoring first.

Noteworthy

Henry Davis is getting the call up to the majors to face the Cubs on Monday.

Up Next

The Pittsburgh Pirates will head back home to face the Chicago Cubs for a three-game series. Osvaldo Bido (0-0, 2.25 ERA) is expected to face Drew Smyly (6-4 3.59 ERA)