Carlos Gomez / UPI-Bill Greenblatt
There’s no question, pitchers are ahead of hitters after the first week of the Major League baseball season. The Milwaukee Brewers, who were one of the top hitting teams during spring training, are going through their own issues as well.
In their just completed home stand, the Brewers scored a total of 16 runs in six games. That’s an average of 2.7 per game. The Brewers team batting average of .230 ranks 15th in the majors so far this season.
On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Pirates had to scratch their starting pitcher, Francisco Liriano. He left the Pirates after being placed on the teams paternity list. His wife was about to give birth to a child in the Dominican Republic.
So the Pirates called up Casey Sadler from Triple AAA Indianapolis. He worked five innings and allowed four hits, earning his first Major League win, a 10-2 victory over the Brewers. Sadler’s only real blemish came when he served up a two run homer to Brewers leadoff man Carlos Gomez. He later served up a double to Gomez but promptly picked him off second to end the fifth inning.
Kyle Lohse was off to a good start after losing his season opening start. But Lohse served up a 3-run home run to Andrew McCutchen in the sixth to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead and eventual victory.
The Pirates added six more runs in the 9th inning to put the game out of reach. Khris Davis dropped a routine fly ball to left with out to help open the door for the Pirates.
The Brewers are 1-5 after the loss on Sunday. They’ll hit the road with a game in St. Louis this afternoon as the Cardinals play their home opener.
AUDIO: Kyle Lohse on serving up HR to McCutchen :12
AUDIO: Kyle Lohse on his outing :14
I joined Missourinet.com’s Bill Pollock to talk about today’s Brewers/Cardinals series opener.