It wasn't exactly the prettiest of wins, but Milwaukee was able to win their 13th straight against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night, the longest active winning streak in baseball. They did so at first by the long ball, and then sealed the deal with a little small ball. All that was capped off with the first regular season appearance by Trevor Hoffman in a Brewers uniform, as the Brewers are now again one game under .500.Pittsburgh took a 2-0 to start the game, but homers by Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, and Mike Cameron gave the Crew a 5-2 lead. Milwaukee's lead was for the most part safe, until Carlos Villanueva collapsed again and gave up two runs in the 8th inning.
Villanueva hasn't had the best start to this season, and I'm not exactly sure what his role will be as we move forward. It appears that with Hoffman back, Coffey will take the 8th inning, and Villanueva could either slot into a 6th and 7th inning role, or perhaps a long reliever slot. I still love Carlos' stuff, but that 6.75 ERA needs to be improved upon, or else he may not only lose his standing in the bullpen, but some close games for us as well.
Luckily, the Brewers offense wasn't done scoring for the evening, as the dominance over Pittsburgh continued. Weeks grounded out for an RBI, Hart hit an RBI double, Fielder hit a 2-run single, and Cameron hit a sacrifice fly to cap the scoring for the Brewers at 10-5, and that was all she wrote for Milwaukee.
Except, for one thing....
Well, besides the fact that he's no longer with the Padres, and that the quality of that video was beyond awful, it was indeed Trevor Time for Milwaukee tonight. He didn't come in for a save situation, but Hoffman got three quick outs and looked good in his first outing. His presence makes the bullpen that much better, and it's good to finally have him on the mound.
I'm going to go ahead and give Rickie Weeks the Player of the Game for the night. He only had one hit, but it was a big three run home run, and he later provided the winning run on a fielder's choice. Also deserving of mention here is Braden Looper, who gave up just two earned runs - three total - in five innings while striking out seven.
The Crew and Pirates go at it again on Tuesday night at 7pm. Be aware though, that the game is on WMLW, and not FSN Wisconsin.
4 comments:
This game was a great example of why it's unwise to use your closer ONLY in the ninth inning, ONLY in save situations.
Tied game in the 8th inning. Brewers batting. Two runners on. These are the most important outs the Pirates need to get all game.
Instead of turning to their best reliever, "closer" Matt Capps, they instead throw Tyler Yates and his career 5.02 ERA.
There's no use in saving your best reliever for the ninth inning if you never actually get to the ninth inning.
Good job by the Brewers for taking advantage. Bad job by them for letting Pittsburgh tie it up in the top of the 8th.
I have to respectfully disagree with you, Jonk, & only because there were two on & no outs. If Kendall gets hit with two outs to become the second runner on base, then yes I think the Pirates bring in Capps for the 4 out save. Or if it was an elimination game, either for a playoff spot or in the playoffs, then yeah bring Capps in for 2 innings. Pitt was 11-7 coming in, so their middle relief must have been at least serviceable the past few weeks.
So can we come to a consensus on who the Pirates best hitter is, because that gentleman will probably be plunked either tonight or tomorrow.
hit the first batter that comes up with two outs and no one on.
I like the 24 reference!
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