Milwaukee drops second straight close game to Pirates, 2-1

Caleb Durbin, Joey Ortiz combine for six hits in loss

Box Score

Despite season-best efforts from Joey Ortiz and Caleb Durbin and a strong outing from Quinn Priester, Milwaukee lost a second straight close game to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After the Brewers went three-up, three-down in the top of the first, Priester ran into trouble in the bottom of the inning. Priester retired Oneil Cruz and Andrew McCutchen in quick succession, but allowed a two-out single to Bryan Reynolds. Spencer Horwitz then doubled on a line drive to center to put the Pirates ahead, 1-0. Priester got Alexander Canario to ground out to second baseman Brice Turang for the third out, but the damage was done.

Christian Yelich led off the second with a hard line drive up the middle. Pirates starter Mitch Keller deflected it to third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, allowing Yelich to reach. Keller bore down a bit after that, getting Rhys Hoskins to strike out and Sal Frelick to pop up. That brought up Durbin.

Yelich got a great jump on Keller’s first pitch to Durbin, stealing second just ahead of the throw from Pirates’ catcher Henry Davis. Durbin then hit a weak one-hopper up the middle on a pitch in on his hands. The ball snuck by shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa, scoring Yelich from second and tying the game at 1-1.

Unfortunately, Durbin (who had a key steal of third as a ghost runner last night) was thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning.

Despite allowing a couple of runners to reach base, Priester kept the score tied in the top of the third. After a Jake Bauers groundout, Ortiz had a nice seven-pitch at-bat, working the count full before slicing a line drive into center for his second hit in as many games. That brought up the top of the order in Brice Turang, who fouled off four of the six pitches he saw. The sixth was a foul tip straight into the mitt of Davis. Jackson Chourio then struck out to get the Pirates out of the inning.

Neither team scored in the fourth inning, either. After a Frelick groundout to start the top of the fifth, Durbin hit a hard ground ball down the third base line that was — again — perfectly placed. Durbin trotted into second base with a double for his second hit of the game. Bauers then flew out, but Ortiz beat out a little chopper to the third base side for another single. Ortiz then stole second, putting two runners in scoring position for Turang. Turang struck out again to keep the game tied.

Priester allowed a one-out single to Cruz in the bottom of the fifth. Andrew McCutchen grounded out (advancing Cruz to second), but Priester made Reynolds swing and miss (badly) on a curveball out of the zone for the third out.

In the top of the seventh, the Brewers threatened to score again. Keller was pulled after six strong innings for lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson. Frelick singled, then Durbin singled (again!) for his third hit of the game. Jake Bauers then grounded out to second baseman Adam Frazier, who forced out Durbin at second. That brought up runners on the corners for Ortiz, who quickly went down in the count 1-2 before Ferguson hit him with an errant slurve.

Turang, who has strong career numbers with the bases loaded, grounded into a forceout at home. With Chourio up next, Pirates manager Don Kelly had seen enough from Ferguson, bringing in righty Chase Shugart. Shugart got Chourio to fly out to right, keeping the game tied at 1-1.

In the bottom of the seventh, Tyler Alexander, in for Priester, got the first two outs around a Kiner-Falefa single. He then balked while facing Cruz, advancing Kiner-Falefa to second. Ultimately, the balk wouldn’t matter, because Alexander hung the second pitch — a slider — to Cruz. Cruz found the gap in right-center for a triple, scoring Kiner-Falefa from second and bringing the game to its final score of 2-1.

Milwaukee mounted a one-out rally in the ninth courtesy of a Durbin hit by pitch and yet another Ortiz single. Unfortunately, Turang, who had runners on in four of his five plate appearances but ended 0-for-5 with two strikeouts, grounded into a double play to end the game.

The Crew ended up getting season-best production from the bottom of the order. Ortiz and Durbin each had three hits and got on base four times, season bests for both players. Unfortunately, that production was squandered by a complete lack of clutch hitting, which has plagued the Brewers all season.

Milwaukee went 2-for-8 with RISP, but left nine runners on base and ended up with just one run to show for their efforts. Turang and Hoskins, normally both reliable contributors, went a combined 0-for-9. Jake Bauers, who’s had clutch hits at times this season, went 0-for-4. It was a bit of a weird game for the offense, but the Brewers should find a way to score more than one run in a game where Ortiz and Durbin combine for six hits.

Milwaukee is now back to three games under .500. The Brewers will look to get out of Pittsburgh with a split series tomorrow at 12:35 p.m. Logan Henderson will get the rock for Milwaukee, while the Pirates are scheduled to start left-hander Bailey Falter.