MILWAUKEE — There’s a reason they call this place the House of Horrors. A bunch of them, really. Milwaukee entered Saturday’s game 123-63 all time against the Pirates at American Family Field, including a mark 24-8 since 2019.
Add this weekend to another chapter in that narrative — and there’s still one game to play in this series. As the Pirates looked to steady themselves following a sweep in Chicago where they allowed 28 runs in three games, they sought refuge here. They did not find it.
Instead, the Pirates experienced some familiar problems and dropped a 5-0 decision against the Brewers on Saturday afternoon.
The loss extended Pittsburgh’s losing streak to five, as the Pirates (34-35) have now lost eight of 10 following a six-game winning streak straddling May and June. If this road trip was supposed to be some sort of test against Chicago and Milwaukee, division teams that they had not seen, they’ll return home Sunday with a failing grade.
With Mitch Keller on the mound, the Pirates had their best chance to win a game on this trip, but even that fell apart.
Keller didn’t have his best stuff and wound up allowing four earned runs over five innings, with three walks and seven strikeouts.
The Brewers (36-34) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning, when Joey Wiemer, hitting in the No. 9 spot, homered for a second consecutive day. Keller threw the Brewers right fielder a cutter that was too far up in the zone, and Wiemer knocked it over the fence in right.
It wasn’t the only spot Keller missed. And it wasn’t the only time he paid for it.
Two innings later, Keller put two men on with a walk to left fielder Christian Yelich and a walk issued to shortstop Willy Adames. With a full count to first baseman Rowdy Tellez, Keller left a four-seam fastball up. Tellez ripped it to left for a double at 112.2 mph.
That scored two to help Milwaukee increase its lead to 4-0. The first of those was automatic, but there could’ve been a play on Adames had Connor Joe kept the ball in front of him. He did not after making an awkward attempt at a stop, the ball nearly rolling to the wall.
In what will surely intensify the calls for Henry Davis and/or Endy Rodriguez, Austin Hedges found himself in the crosshairs of the Pirates’ ineffectiveness on offense. In the fifth, Hedges grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Pittsburgh loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, the Pirates one swing away from making this a game, but Hedges popped out to the catcher, ending the threat.
If there was any positive news from this one, it was that Roansy Contreras took over for Keller and looked really good. After struggling in that role during the series vs. the Cubs, Contreras was efficient and in attack mode, going six-up, six-down and needing only 17 pitches to do it.
The Brewers extended their lead to 5-0 in the eighth inning when Blake Perkins homered off Jose Hernandez. The rookie lefty missed badly with a change-up, and Perkins drove the ball 423 feet out to left-center.
UP NEXT
Luis Ortiz gets the ball in the series finale, as the Pirates will hope to salvage one game on this trip. Brewers right-hander has a 1.84 ERA in three starts against the Pirates last season.
