Pirates fall shy of Brewers, 4-3, in rare close loss
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The Pirates' Andrew McCutchen is out at second base as Brewers shortstop Alcides Escobar relays a double-play throw Thursday at PNC Park. -
Pirates athletic trainer Mike Sandoval, left, checks umpire John Hirschbeck after he was hit by a first-inning warmup pitch by the Brewers' Chris Narveson. -
Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen leaps for ball hit by the Brewers' Corey Hart for a triple. -
Brewers third baseman Casey McGehee tags out the Pirates' Bobby Crosby in a rundown. -
Pirates outfielder Lastings Milledge dives for ball hit foul to left by the Brewers' Prince Fielder in the first inning. -
Pirates Paul Maholm delivers pitch against the Brewers. -
The Pirates' Andy LaRoche slides safely into second with a double as Brewers' shortstop Alcides Escobar takes the late throw from right field during the first inning.
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There seemed to be the sense, pretty much all evening at PNC Park, that the Pirates somehow would take this one.
Just stay close, chase the starter, string together a couple of ...
Well, not this time.
The Pirates came up just shy of the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3, Thursday before 13,975, unable to alter that score once it was set in the fourth inning. Paul Maholm would last seven, and relievers Jeff Karstens, Javier Lopez and freshly returned Brendan Donnelly put up zeroes, but the bats never followed suit, mustering one hit in the final 15 at-bats for a total of six.
And it is possible there were a whole lot of law-of-average elements working against them: Like that 13-4 record they had in games decided by two or fewer runs. Like getting all that clutch hitting in the previous two games, even against Roy Halladay.
Game: Pirates vs. Atlanta Braves, 7:05 p.m., PNC Park.
TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).
Pitching: RHP Ross Ohlendorf(0-1, 3.00) vs. RHP Tim Hudson (4-1, 2.41).
Key matchup: Atlanta star Chipper Jones, slumping at .234, is a career .292 hitter at PNC Park, with a superb .442 on-base percentage thanks to 20 walks.
Of note: Javier Lopez, the Pirates' left-handed specialist, has allowed just one of his 17 inherited runners to score, best rate in the National League.
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As manager John Russell put it afterward of this one, "Those are games we've been winning. This one just didn't go our way."
From the opponent's perspective, too, perhaps no team was more due for a reversal of fortune than the Brewers, who had lost nine in a row, a hard-to-fathom lull for a lineup that potent.
"We just had to have this," Milwaukee reliever Carlos Villanueva said.
The Pirates burst to a 3-0 lead in the first on Steve Pearce's two-run triple -- especially impressive in pulling a low-and-away fastball into the North Side Notch -- and Andy LaRoche's follow-up double.
First Published May 21, 2010 12:03 am
