The Pittsburgh Pirates dropped a second consecutive game to the Milwaukee Brewers, losing 7-4 on Saturday night. The loss is the team’s fifth in a row as they continue to cling to an outside chance of getting a Wild Card berth. Here are the takeaways and throwaways from the frustrating loss.
Takeaways
- Ivan Nova registered a quality start, his fourth since joining the Pirates. He allowed two runs (a two run home run to Chris Carter) over six innings and struck out six. He also issued just his second free pass since changing uniforms at the trade deadline. The Pirates gave up a few decent prospects for Nova, but other than Jameson Taillon he has been the most consistent pitcher in the rotation as of late.
- For the second night in a row, the Pirates showed tremendous patience at the plate. The team as a whole drew six walks from the starter Jimmy Nelson, but unfortunately were not able to do enough with free base runners to win the game, also for the second night in a row.
- The Pirates did have the long ball working on Friday, with Andrew McCutchen connecting for his 19th of the season and Starling Marte driving just his ninth into the stands. Both of these long balls were solo shots, so the Pirates were not able to plate multiple runs on these hits.
Throwaways
- Bell’s growing pains continue. In the 7th inning Keon Broxton laid down a bunt with runners on second and third. Bell broke towards the ball and left first base open which, while the base runners did not advance, allowed Broxton to reach and load the bases. Fortunately Jared Hughes was able to get Scooter Gennett to ground into an inning ending double play. However Bell’s lack of experience had the potential to cost the team multiple runs if Hughes did not get that much needed ground ball.
- It was not a good game for the bullpen, particularly Neftali Feliz and Felipe Rivero. Feliz worked a third of the eighth inning before he was removed due to injury, but gave up two runs while he was on the mound. His successor wasn’t any better as Rivero gave up a pair of runs as well. Kelvin Marte made his debut in the final third of inning and needed 17 pitches to finish the frame. Jeff Locke was called upon to work the ninth and promptly gave up a triple to Hernan Perez, which should have been a double had Gregory Polanco thrown the ball in faster.
W – Jimmy Nelson (8-13)
L – Ivan Nova (11-7)
S – Tyler Thornburg (8)
The #Pirates lose game two of their series against the #Brewers by a score of 7-4. Who was your Player of the Game?
— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) September 4, 2016
Line of the Night
Tonight the Line of the Night goes to Ivan Nova.
As mentioned above, Nova went six innings and made one bad mistake, the ball that Chris Carter deposited into the stands. But he was very efficient, throwing 70 pitches and 51 of those for strikes. Unfortunately, three of the five hits he gave up went for extra bases, and two especially proved to be costly. His next start is scheduled for Thursday, September 8th against the Cincinnati Reds.
Up Next
The series will wrap up on Sunday at 1:35pm and will feature a pitching match up of Chase Anderson (7-11, 4.92) and Steven Brault (0-1, 3.86). This will be Anderson’s fourth start against the Pirates, and they most recently handed him a loss back on August 28th when he went five and a third innings and gave up two runs. Sunday will be just the fourth start of Brault’s career and he’ll look to work deeper into the game compared to his last outing when he lasted just four innings against the Chicago Cubs.
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