A.J. Burnett went seven innings, but 6 stolen bases and 3 Pirate errors cost the Buccos as they fell to Marco Estrada and the Brewers 5 – 1. “They have more team speed than anyone in the league.” Said manager, Clint Hurdle. “At the end of the day, everybody in the lineup runes, with the exception of Aramis Ramirez and when he’s healthy, he runs a little.”
The Brewers struck 3 batters into the contest after Nori Aoki poked a double down the left field line. Jean Segura then lined a ball off of Burnett’s glove for an infield single. He would then steal second easily for the first of six stolen bases on the night. Carlos Gomez would then hit an RBI infield single to make it 1 – 0. Burnett would then strikeout the next 2 batters and get Jonathan Lucroy to fly out to end the threat.
The Pirates couldn’t get the best of Estrada as they totaled 3 base-runners over the first six innings. “He moves the ball around the plate, in the strike zone. Changeup’s a big pitch for him and he spots up the fastball.” Said Hurdle. “We haven’t had much success against him.”
The Brewers would get 2 more in the 5th when Logan Schafer led off the inning with a double. He would then score two batters later on an Aoki RBI double. Aoki would then steal third and score on a Segura 3-foot infield single to make it 3 – 0.
It would get ugly for the Pirates in the top of the 7th. Schafer grounded a slow roller to first base where Gaby Sanchez couldn’t handle allowing Schafer to reach. Estrada would then sacrifice him to second. He would then score on a Burnett error on a grounder back to the mound.
It may have been ugly, but Burnett was able to stretch seven innings with a couple of bad breaks. “You gotta come out of the gate a little stronger.” Said Burnett. “You can’t quit and the fact that you were able to get seven out of it is huge for the bullpen. It’s just one of those nights, nothing went our way. You just gotta keep going till skip takes the ball.”
The Pirates would break onto the scoreboard in the 7th when Sanchez led the inning off with a double to right-center. He would then move to third on a Neil Walker flyout and score on a Pedro Alvarez groundout to make it 4 – 1.
The Brewers would finish the scoring in the 9th when pinch-hitter, Alex Gonzalez, singled. He moved to second on a sacrifice and to third on a Tony Watson wild pitch. He would then score on Aoki’s third RBI infield single of the night to make it 5 – 1.
The Pirates would not score on Jim Henderson as he threw a perfect inning with a strikeout to end the game. Final score: Brewers 5, Pirates 1.
Game 2 of this 4-game series will be tomorrow night at 7:05.
Starters Lines:
Burnett (Loss): 7 IN, 4 R, 3 ER, 7 H, 6 K’s. 104 Pitches (74 Strikes)
Estrada (Win): 7 IN, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 K’s. 101 Pitches (69 Strikes)
Tomorrow’s Starters:
(LHP) Jeff Locke (PIT) 3 – 1, 2.95 ERA
(RHP) Kyle Lohse (MIL) 1 – 4, 3.53 ERA
(Source: Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
