How high was the frustration for the Brewers after being on the wrong end of the Pirates¡¯ first back-to-back victories all season?
¡°On a scale of 1-10,¡± said Brewers starter Josh Lindblom, ¡°probably a 10.¡±
Lindblom was the pitcher of record in a 12-5 loss at PNC Park on Saturday, which followed a 7-2 loss on Friday to a Pirates team with the worst record and worst scoring offense in the Majors and the eighth-worst ERA. Yet the Brewers have been outscored by 12 (19-7) and outhit by 16 (28-12) in the past two days.
Keston Hiura provided a jolt on Saturday at his favorite venue with a three-run home run that temporarily put the Brewers back in the game at 7-4 in the seventh, but that was one of only two Milwaukee hits in 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position on Saturday, which followed an 0-for-6 in the clutch on Friday. And the Bucs promptly piled on with a nine-batter, five-run rally in the seventh against Crew rookies Angel Perdomo and Drew Rasmussen to extinguish any hope of a comeback.
¡°I don¡¯t want to speak for everybody, but I don¡¯t think there¡¯s one guy in that clubhouse right now that isn¡¯t frustrated about something,¡± said Lindblom, who is not immune. He saw the Brewers pull into a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning on Jedd Gyorko¡¯s sky-high high home run down the left-field line, but he promptly lost the lead on a walk and a Gregory Polanco homer in the bottom of the same frame.
¡°Frustration is definitely the word right now, I¡¯d say,¡± Lindblom said.
How do the Brewers prevent the frustration from consuming them?
¡°When you¡¯re going through stretches like this where you¡¯re battling to get some kind of consistency, you¡¯ve just got to show up and win the day,¡± Lindblom said. ¡°You can¡¯t look two, three, four days in advance. It¡¯s hard to do at a time like this. But you just have to show up in the morning, know that the sun will come up and just try to win the day and see where you¡¯re at, at the end of it.¡±
Hiura¡¯s two-strike, three-run home run off Pirates reliever Dovydas Neverauskas gave the Brewers a temporary glimmer of hope. It was his ninth home run in 21 career games against the Pirates, and his eighth home run in his first 15 games at PNC Park.
Hiura now has more home runs at PNC Park than the Reds¡¯ Joey Votto in 83 fewer games. At much more hitter-friendly Miller Park, Hiura has 12 homers in 45 games. On the road, he has six home runs in 49 games at venues outside of Pittsburgh.
But that bright spot was the exception. Earlier, before the Pirates had built their big lead, Mark Mathias put the Brewers in business with leadoff doubles in the third and fifth innings. Both times, he was stranded.
¡°It¡¯s been tough this year, for sure,¡± Mathias said. ¡°But I have a really good feeling that we are going to turn this around. We have a lot of good hitters, a lot of good players. It just takes one little click and we¡¯re there. You saw how explosive our offense can get against the Twins that second game [on Wednesday].¡±
Brewers manager Craig Counsell pointed to a number of at-bats that could have turned Saturday¡¯s course. Christian Yelich¡¯s 109.7 mph double-play grounder in the first inning was the hardest-hit ball all day, per Statcast. Manny Pi?a lined out to third base at 102.4 mph with a runner aboard in the fourth. And after Mathias¡¯ second double in the fifth, Orlando Arcia smashed a 102.2 mph lineout directly at the center fielder when it was only a 3-1 deficit.
The Brewers created plenty of their own trouble, however. Lindblom gave up a leadoff walk to Colin Moran in the fourth inning ahead of Polanco¡¯s tiebreaking homer. Hiura committed an error on a routine ground ball in the sixth ahead of Jacob Stallings¡¯ home run off Eric Yardley. And Perdomo and Rasmussen combined for three walks and a wild pitch in the game-breaking seventh, including Rasmussen¡¯s walk to Stallings with the bases loaded.
¡°We're just not playing well enough,¡± Counsell said. ¡°We pitched poorly today, that's the best way to say it. We haven't had many days like that, but today, we didn't pitch well. We gave up 12 runs. There's not going to be many wins when you give up 12 runs.¡±
Up next
The Brewers' longest road trip of the regular season comes to an end Sunday, when Corbin Burnes starts against the Pirates at 12:35 p.m. CT, live on MLB.TV, in the 10th and final game of the trip. It's Burnes' second start since he rejoined the rotation, having pitched five innings against the Twins on Aug. 18.