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The Pittsburgh Pirates ended their five game losing streak Monday night in Milwaukee and they did it in style.
While he has only made nine starts in his major league career, it might be safe to say Pirates left-hander Steven Brault was at his best.
Brault, who made just his second MLB start of the year for the Bucs against the Brewers, surrendered just one hit in six shutout innings while walking one and striking out six in the Pirates 7-0 victory.
In fact, Brault had more hits at the plate than he gave up as he went 2 for 3 at the dish with a pair of RBIs.
The young 25-year old southpaw has had his fair share of struggles this season pitching out of the Pirates bullpen in the months of July and August. In 13.2 innings, Brault allowed 12 runs on 20 hits.
However, given the Pirates current spot in the division, it’s nice to see him getting an opportunity and taking advantage of it. That’s the type of opportunity that many of the Pirates young stars will get for the remainder of the season.
Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl, Trevor Williams and Josh Bell are young players who have full-time opportunities and earned them, but guys like Tyler Glasnow, Jordan Luplow, Elias Diaz and Brault may be given more opportunities and chances to show off what they can do with those chances.
Pirates show off long ball
The Pirates are a team that struggles to consistently put the ball over the fence.
There is no denying it. The facts tell the story. The Bucs rank second to last in major league baseball in home runs (140), trailing just the San Francisco Giants.
However, they did their best to improve upon that number against the Brew Crew at Miller Park, or what I like to refer to as the Pirates “House of Horrors.”
Andrew McCutchen, who went 1 for 4 with a walk Monday, hit his 24th home run of the season in the first inning while Starling Marte blasted his sixth of the year in the fifth. Jordy Mercer, who has silently had one of the best years of his career, hit his 14th home run of the season in the eighth.
The Pirates will look to continue that power surge as they look to slow the Brewers down in their quest to win the NL Central crown.
Because, despite the disappointing year it has been for the Bucs, they did a pretty good job of it Monday night.
Baseball Talk on the Web
- Tigers ace Michael Fulmer‘s season is over as he gets set to undergo elbow surgery.
- ESPN takes a look at which contenders are best equipped to win the World Series.
- Members of the 2002 Oakland Athletics team that won 20 games in a row reacted to the Cleveland Indians long winning streak.
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