The Pittsburgh Pirates offense broke out today collecting two home runs and a total of 17 hits as the Pirates sailed past the Brewers 9-3. Nicasio bounced back on the mound throwing 7.0 innings and allowing three runs in the contest.
The Pittsburgh Pirates bats broke out this afternoon against the Milwaukee Brewers collecting 17 hits in the Pirates 9-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Eleven different Pirates players collected hits on the day including four multi-hit games. The offensive struggles were put behind the Pirates in this one as they feasted off of Brewers starter Zach Davies.
Juan Nicasio started the game for Pittsburgh coming off a bad start against the Detroit Tigers where he gave up four runs in only three innings of work. He bounced back nicely this afternoon pitching 6.0 innings giving up three runs on five hits while walking two and striking out six. He had one rough inning in the fourth where he gave up all three runs, but other than that he had a very successful afternoon.
The key for Nicasio was that he was able to hit the target set by Francisco Cervelli. In that start against the Tigers, he was not able to hit his target and it cost him big time as he allowed six hits in the game and one of them being a big home run. When Nicasio has his control like he did today, he is a very strong starting pitcher in the Pirates rotation.
It helped that Nicasio was pitching with the lead for most of the day as the scoring started in the bottom of the second. A walk by Gregory Polanco and a double by Josh Harrison set the stage for a sacrifice fly by Jordy Mercer as the Pirates scored first and led 1-0. Having the early lead propelled Nicasio on the mound and allowed him to pitch with ease as he retired the first nine batters he faced.
In the bottom of the third the Pirates sent 11 batters to the plate and score five runs as they took control of the game. It started with the Pirates loading the bases after a walk by David Freese followed by singles from Matt Joyce and Francisco Cervelli. Then the Pirates had back-to-back RBI singles from Polanco and Josh Harrison, and a force attempt/fielding error that allowed two runs to score and gave the Pirates a 5-0 lead.
The Pirates would add another run on a Jon Jaso RBI single to make the score 6-0. In total, 11 batters came to the plate for the Pirates and collected six hits in the inning. It was good to see the Pirates put a bunch of hits together to score a lot of runs. It shows that this offense is very capable of exploding at any minute and they proved that once again this afternoon.
The Brewers started to fight back in the fourth inning. With two on and one out, first baseman Chris Carter hit an RBI single to score the first run of the game for the Brewers. A walk to Ramon Flores followed by a pop out by Aaron Hill gave the Brewers the bases loaded with two out. The Brewers capped their scoring with a two-RBI single by Kirk Nieuwenhuis to make the score 6-3 Pirates.
Pittsburgh added another run in the bottom of the fifth as Andrew McCutchen hit his second home run in as many nights to give the Pirates a 7-3 lead. McCutchen hit six home runs in spring training but ran into a little bit of a power outage early in the season. However, the last two nights he has been able to hit the ball over the wall and produce the way we know he can.
Arquimedes Caminero came into the game next and had a bounce back outing of his own. Coming off a stretch in which he gave up four runs inn 1.2 innings pitched, Caminero came out today and threw 1.2 scoreless innings while walking two and striking out one. Caminero has been a solid pitcher for the Pirates, and when he is on he can be dominant on the mound. Neftali Feliz came in to get one out in the eighth and he struck out the only batter he faced.
The Pirates added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth as Sean Rodriguez hit the longest home run of the year for the Pirates as it traveled 442 feet. The two-run shot scored Gregory Polanco and gave the Pirates a 9-3 lead. Rob Scahill finished out the game for Pittsburgh throwing 1.0 inning giving up one hit and striking out one.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have the day off tomorrow, but will return to action on Tuesday when they travel to San Diego to take on the Padres. The Padres will throw right hander Colin Rea (0-1 5.56) who is coming off of a good outing against the Philadelphia Phillies where he went 7.0 innings giving up one run on two hits. The Pirates will oppose with left-hander Francisco Liriano (1-0 2.45) who is returning after missing his last start with hamstring discomfort. First pitch from Petco Park is scheduled for 10:10 p.m.
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