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 The Brewers continued their winning ways Sunday, rallying late for a
6-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates -- the first home sweep by
the Brewers since last July.
"That's a good team," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "There's
no question, that's a good team. Like I said before, lots of guys
doing good things. I thought we earned it."
The Brewers offense hadn't done much against Pirates left-hander
Jeff Locke, who scattered five hits over his first six innings but
ran into trouble in the seventh, issuing a leadoff walk to center
fielder Carlos Gomez and a one-out single to third baseman Aramis
Ramirez.
That brought up left fielder Khris Davis, who sent Locke's first
offering back up the middle, driving in Gomez and Ramirez to give
Milwaukee the lead.
"The walk to Gomez, he's a spark plug for those guys," Locke said.
"You put him on base, he can do a lot of things to take your focus
off the at-bat."
Davis' two-run double made a winner out of right-hander Taylor
Jungmann (5-1), who gave way to a pinch-hitter two batters later.
Making the eighth start of his career, Jungmann (5-1) walked three
and gave up five hits while striking out eight. His only earned run
of the day was more a product of bad luck than anything else.
Left fielder Jaff Decker's fly ball to the track in center bounced
off the glove of Gomez, allowing Decker to reach on a triple.
He scored when Locke dribbled a single into left, giving the Pirates
a 1-0 lead.
"The biggest thing is just throwing to contact," Jungmann said.
"Obviously you're not just trying to leave it over the middle, but
you're trying to hit spots and go right at guys and not beat around
the bush."
Right-hander Jeremy Jeffress struck out the last two batters to
strand the tying run at second in the eighth and Milwaukee added a
four insurance runs in the bottom of the inning on a pair of errors
and a pinch-hit double by Shane Peterson.
One of those was charged to Locke (5-6), who finished the day with
three runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out three.
"He was way better than decent," Hurdle said. "The guys that got him
down at the bottom, Ramirez was 2-for-20 and Khris Davis was
1-for-16 against Locke coming in. He got a pitch to Davis out over
the plate but he pitched an excellent game. Very competitive
fastball on both sides of the plate, a very good changeup. Very
competitive outing for Jeff."
The Pirates had to make an adjustment early when shortstop Jordy
Mercer suffered a leg injury while making a tag on Gomez.
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Playing a shift against first baseman Adam Lind, Mercer fielded the
ball to the right of second base and instead of flipping to second
baseman Neil Walker, tried to put the tag on Gomez, who went into
his slide early and took out Mercer.
"It was just one of those plays where two players are coming in,"
Counsell said. "It was just a bad spot. They both kind of got to the
spot at the same time. Gomez was running full speed and Mercer got
in the baseline right away. You don't like to see it, but I thought
Gomez didn't really have a choice."
Hurdle didn't want to debate whether or not the play was "dirty,"
but said it is common.
"It's not a gentleman's game, but it's a baseball play," Hurdle
said. "It's unfortunate when your players get hurt. I've seen it
many times. It's the same way we talk about doing it if it happens,
you try and slide down toward his feet and get in his way."
Mercer was carted off the field and will not join the team as it
continues onto Kansas City for an interleague series with the
Royals. Instead, he will return to Pittsburgh for further
evaluation.
NOTES: Pirates CF Andrew McCutchen got the day off Sunday. ...
Pittsburgh placed OF Gorkys Hernandez on the 15-day disabled list
(retroactive to July 13) with left shoulder discomfort. To fill the
roster spot, the Pirates recalled RHP Wilfredo Boscan from Triple-A
Indianapolis. This is Boscan's third stint with the team this
season, but he has yet to make an appearance. ... Milwaukee earned
its first home sweep since July 21-23, 2014, when the Brewers took
three in a row from the Reds. ... The Brewers won a season-high four
consecutive games at Miller Park but still have baseball's worst
home record at 19-28 this season.
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