Pitching Pounded Again; Brew Crew Drops Bucs 10-4 In Opener

The Pirates went quietly against Brandon Woodruff. With one gone in the first, Rookie Davis fed Christian Yelich an 0-2 heater right down Broadway and was lucky it only got banged for a double, thx to a nice gap cutoff by Bryan Reynolds. A wild pitch moved him up with two away, but Rookie left Yelich stranded. Woodruff whiffed the side in the second; plate ump Sam Holbrook has a pretty expanded strike zone. The Brew Crew cranked it up in their half; Yasmil Grandal doubled and Eric Thames homered to start it, followed by a walk, single and bunt. Another walk filled the bases. A short-ish sac fly plated another (Melky's throw was way offline; Eli did well to stop it) before it ended. Eli began the third with an infield knock and came around on Fraze's three-bagger. It looked like Adam was going to be wasted at third, but Reynolds was clutch with two outs and doubled him home. Unfortunately, he took a quick nap and was picked off. The first Brewer walked, then Davis issued two more two-out passes but dodged another bullet.

Bryan Reynolds can hold his head up - photo Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates went quietly in the fourth; Woodruff already has seven whiffs. A single, steal and a check swing single off Clay Holmes added one more notch to the Brew Crew belt. A leadoff walk went for naught for the Bucs in the fifth. Nick Kingham got the ball and twirled a clean, 10-pitch inning. K-Man went yard on the first pitch to open the sixth, pulling the Bucs within a run. Kingham made sure the game didn't stay interesting by giving up a three-run blast to Ryan Braun. Alex Claudio took over in the seventh and a single, K, GIDP made for an easy inning. The King had a combo of an error, wild pitch, single and double before Geoff Hartleib came in with an out; he gave up another rap to put Milwaukee up 10-3. Corbin Burnes worked the eighth; a Jake Stallings' single and Reynolds' double brought home a run. The Brew Crew opened with a couple of raps, but didn't push them across. J-Bell opened the ninth with a walk, but the next three Bucs went down quietly. Clint let Hartlieb bat, and he K'ed for the final out.

We're ready to see JB Shuck called up as a pitcher about now. Tonight's Bucco twirlers and their ERA's: Rookie Davis (6.75); Clay Holmes (5.28); Nick Kinghan (9.61) and Geoff Hartlieb (10.64).

Notes:

• Bryan Reynolds had two doubles tonight; the Bucs had seven hits and he was the only Corsair to reach more than once.
• Brandon Woodruff's 10 strikeouts ties his career high. He stayed strong, throwing 98 in his last frame, and when you combine that velo with a wide zone - and give him credit, he had the command tonight to use those couple of extra inches; the Pirates had the same zone with quite different results - you're gonna generate a few misses.
• The Bucs and Brewers recreated Negro League Day (they had one at PNC Park in the last series), with Pittsburgh dressed as the Crawfords and Milwaukee as the Bears.
• Mitch is knockin' on the door...he struck out the side with three walks in each of the first four innings for Indy. He left after five scoreless innings and a career-high 13 whiffs. The Tribe lost 3-1.