The Pirates gave Paul Maholm a 5-1 lead to work with. And for a while it looked like it might hold up. Maholm left the bases full of Beer Makers in the third and fourth innings. But the wheels came off in the fifth and sixth.
After scoring twice in the fifth, Bill Hall led off the home half of the sixth with a solo homer to make it a one run game. One out later, Craig Counsell singled and Maholm was pulled in favor of Jesse Chavez. He was greeted by Rickie Weeks who lined a two run, go ahead homer just over the wall in left field. That put Milwaukee up for good.
The Milwaukee pen allowed just one Pirate runner over the final four frames.
Jason Jaramillo and Eric Hinske each drove in two runs for the Pirates to pace the early innings attack.
The Good
No complaints about the production from Jaramillo. He hit his fifth double and drove in two. His BA is a nice .345.
Milwaukee was 1-9 with RISP. This could’ve been much worse. Of course, Bucco hitters were just 2-9. So, maybe it could’ve been better.
The Bad
Bucs hurlers gave up nine walks.
Pirates have dropped an unbelievable 17 straight at Miller Park.
Andy LaRoche’s hitting streak was snapped at 11 games.
The Rest
Clearly Jerry Crasnick’s story has jinxed the Pirates pitchers.
It tells you how far he has fallen in the batting order – Jason Kendall drew his third IBB of the season. That gives him 10 free passes in the past two seasons. Between 2001 and 2005 he was walked intentionally a total of 10 times.
