Milwaukee Brewers: 6
Pittsburgh Pirates: 0
Recap
Steal, steal, steal, steal, steal, steal, steal.
The Milwaukee Brewers took full advantage of Rob Barajas' poor throwing arm by stealing a collective seven bases—three by Ryan Braun, and one each by Carlos Gomez, Norichika Aoki, Rickie Weeks, and Jonathan Lucroy.
The seven stolen bases is the most for the Brewers in 20 years.
Both starters had solid outings, but Yovani Gallardo got the better of A.J. Burnett, going 6.2 innings. He only gave up two hits but walked four. He also struck out six batters. If you watched the game, you know that Yo had his good stuff tonight, just like he has the past two or so months it seems.
The name of the game was small-ball tonight for the Brewers, scoring five of their six runs on RBI singles, and one on a sacrifice fly. Norichika Aoki came up big or the Brewers tonight (as he has been quite frequently lately) by contributing an RBI single and the sac fly, going two for four.
Braun, on top of his three stolen bases and an RBI single, scored a run collected two hits and a walk. Jonathan Lucroy also had a good night, going three for five with an RBI single, a stolen base, and a run scored.
And finally, Jean Segura went two for four with two RBI and a run scored. Not a bad night for the rookie short stop, who also made some good plays in the field.
The Pirates look like they've given up. Sorry. They played poorly, put up absolutely no fight offensively, and played piss-poor defense, with two errors and a bunch of plays that should have been made but weren't.
This is one of the tightest wild card races in history, a pivotal series, and the Pirates are rolling over and dying while the Brewers continue to win in whatever way they can. Sounds about right.
Good news on the injury front, though he didn't make an appearance, Corey Hart was available to pinch-hit tonight, meaning it looks like we should see him back in the line-up soon. Travis Ishikawa has done a decent job at first defensively, but the Brewers have to be missing Corey's bat in that five hole.
Tonight's win makes 10 consecutive starts for Gallardo where the Brewers have won, and it was Gallardo's 16th win of the season, only one shy of his career high which he could surpass. He also lowered his ERA to 3.59.
I'll post a preview for tomorrow's (well, really today as it's 3:10 AM EST) game later, but it should be a good one. Marco Estrada is red-hot on the mound, stringing together some extremely impressive starts. He'll be taking on rookie Kyle McPherson, who will be making his first career start.
The Cardinals won against the Astros tonight (big surprise there), so the Brewers stayed two and a half games back of the wild card, but with the way the Brewers have been playing, it's not time to worry yet.
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