Brew Crew Takes Opener 4-2, Cutch Leaves Game

Whole lotta pitching going on by Francisco Liairano and Wily Peralta to start the game. The Bucs got Cutch to second with two down in the first,  The Kid had a one out single in the second and Jordy Mercer got to second with two away in the third. Pedro's grounder ended the first threat, Ishi's DP the second and Travis Snider's liner to left center hung up long enough to close the third. Frankie was dealing; the Brew Crew was nine up, nine down with five whiffs.

The Bucs hit the ball hard in the fourth with nothing to show. Cutch just got under a ball, flying out to the track in left center. Pedro caught one of the end of the bat that was just short of the track in right. Russ Martin lined a single up the middle, and Neil Walker roped another, but right at 1B Mark Reynolds. Liriano couldn't finish in the Brewer half, and it cost him. He walked Carlos Gomez after being ahead 1-2, and two outs later had Aramis Ramirez in the same count, fed him  fastball on the hands and watched it disappear over the left field fence to make it 2-0.

Peralta set down the bottom of the Buc order in the fifth while the Brew Crew beat continued. Mark Reynolds hit the same pitch as A-Ram and parked it into the upper deck. Ricky Weeks doubled in the LF corner on a heater tight and on the knees. With two outs, Go-Go was fed a hung slider and dumped it into left to make it 4-0 Milwaukee.

Snider singled through the SS hole with an out in the sixth, but Cutch and Pedro couldn't take advantage.  Frankie's command has deserted him since the third; a walk and wild pitch ran his pitch count to 95 after he was at 32 going into the fourth, though he escaped the frame unscathed.

The Bucs halved the lead in the seventh. martin reached when A-Ram bounced a throw to first, and Walker made it hurt by banging a ball over the right center wall. Bryan Morris came on and 1-2-3'ed the Brewers. Jim Henderson did the same to the Pirates in the eighth. Mo struck out the first two Crewmen, then ran into problems. A swinging bunt single by Braun and a knock to left was followed by a 3-0 count on Jonathan Lucroy. Morris came back to get him on a grounder to keep it at 4-2.

More troubling was Cutch leaving the game; he looked like he was in a bit of pain getting out of the box during his last at-bat, and Clint sent him into the clubhouse. Early word is that he felt some discomfort in his left ankle, so we'll see what develops from that.

Francisco Rodriguez came in for the save. He changed speeds, painted the edges and caught a couple of calls, striking out the side and putting the icing on the Brewers seventh straight win.

Franciso Liriano is a guy that needs to work ahead in the count. He did that for three innings and was untouchable. But the second time around Milwaukee was a little more patient, Frankie found himself pitching from a hole, and the results showed. Tomorrow, Edinson Volquez has the tall order of evening the series against Yovani Gallardo, who hasn't surrendered a run yet this season.

• Three of the four Brewer runs cam with two outs.
• The Pirates have scored 41 runs; 24 have come after the seventh inning. A little quicker start out of the box would make life a whole lot easier on the staff.
• Cutch stole his first two sacks of the season.
• The Brewers were working the matchups tonight; all nine starters were RH.
• The Indy Indians are off to a minor-league best 8-1 start with tonight's 6-4 win over Toledo. Gregory Polanco posted his fifth multi-hit game.