Bucs Go Down 5-3

The Brewers went down 1-2-3 to Charlie Morton to open the game. The Bucs jumped to a 1-0 lead on Starling Marte's flying feet. He reached first when two Brewers ran into one another on a short pop, stole second, went to third on an overthrow and came in on Russ Martin's grounder to short.

After exchanging zeroes, the Bucs had Jordy Mercer on third and Marte on first with an out in the third. Russ Martin's bloop chased home a run and sent Marte to third; Martin went to second when Gomez couldn't come up with the ball cleanly. Cutch walked on five pitches. Pedro couldn't cash in; he took a pair of sliders for strikes and waved at a high heater. The Kid popped out, and the Bucs left a flock of ducks on the pond.

It hurt. Ryan Braun opened the fourth with a double, followed by a walk and HBP. A fly out stemmed the bleeding, but Scooter Gennett doubled to plate two; a third run was cut down at the dish, JT to The Kid to Russ. But they weren't quite done; the eight hitter, Martin Maldonado, knocked in another and it was 3-2 Milwaukee. Nothin' like getting killed by the bottom of the order.

To open the fifth, Carlos Gomez hammered a changeup out of the yard to make 4-2. Lohse walked Cutch with two outs and a runner on first to get to Pedro; he tapped back to the hill. In the sixth, three Brew Crew singles, the big one a two-out RBI knock by Gomez, made it 5-2. The Bucs went quietly.

Stolmy Pimentel took the bump in the seventh. He gave up a walk to Braun, but erased him on a line drive DP and whiffed his way out of the inning.  An error and a walk set up Martin with one away, and Tyler Thornburg was handed the ball. He got Russ to fly out on a first pitch curve. TT pitched to Cutch, and Andrew responded with a run-scoring double, leaving runners at second and third for Pedro. That brought on LHP Will Smith. El Toro struck out looking at a hung slider under the letters.

Pimentel held the Brewers to a two-out single in the eighth. Smith hit Walker in the knee with an 0-2 slider to open the Bucco half. Gaby lined one to left that was nicely played by Elian Herrera for a loud first out. Josh Harrison made up for that by dropping a soft liner to right for a knock. That rang the bullpen phone for Jim Henderson. Travis Ishikawa grabbed a bat for Clint Barmes (leaving Harrison as the SS) and it took three heaters to send him back to the bench. Snider walked on four pitches to load the bases with two down for Marte. He popped out, and the Bucs left the sacks juiced once again.

Justin Wilson was waved in for the ninth. He fell behind Go-Go 3-0, but came all the way back to K him looking. Jean Segura beat out an infield bleeder to second as Walker was shaded to the middle, but was nailed stealing. Braun popped out, so it's down to the last cuts for the Bucs.

Francisco Rodriguez entered looking for the save. Martin drew a leadoff walk. We're not sure what Cutch was looking for. He took two heaters above the knee for strikes, then swung through a change up. Pedro got ahead 3-0, then had the green light and went after a changeup right down the middle. Even seeing nothing but slow stuff from K-Rod, he rolled over on it a bounced out to first. The Kid lined out on a rocket to third, and the Bucs went down 5-3. Rodriguez started off by throwing eight straight fastballs; his last ten pitches were eight changeups and two curves.

The Bucs were 3-for-12 with RISP and stranded 11; even four Brewer boots didn't help the cause along.  But it's hard to blame the bats; the starting pitching has to pick up their game. Wandy Rodriguez and Matt Garza get it on tomorrow night.

• The Bucs picked up Ike Davis for Zack Thornton and a PTBNL; the story is in the post below.
• Pedro had one of those nights: he's stranded eight runners, struck out twice and grounded out to the mound and first.
• Tyler Thornburg had retired 21 straight batters before Cutch doubled off him in the seventh.
• Jordy Mercer left the game after the third inning; he was spiked on a play at second in the Brewer half of the frame. He stayed around long enough to single and score before limping into the trainer's room.
• C Chris Stewart has a four game hitting streak at Indy; he should be good to go from his rehab assignment shortly.
• Gregory Polanco has driven in a run in six straight games with his RBI double tonight.It was a good night for Indy; Brandon Cumpton tossed seven shutout frames and Polanco ended up with three RBI as they beat Louisville 9-2.