Pirates 3, Brewers 0: More of the same against Trevor Williams
PITTSBURGH - Same story, different day.
Facing nemesis Trevor Williams for the third time this season, the Milwaukee Brewers again failed to generate any semblance of offense.
The right-hander allowed just four singles and a walk over six shutout innings, and the Brewers went on to be blanked by the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-0, on Saturday night at PNC Park.
It was the 12th shutout loss for Milwaukee this season as it reverted to 2018 form in Pittsburgh after a rare eight-run outburst in Friday's 8-3 victory. In falling to 2-7 at PNC Park, the Brewers have averaged a total of 2.9 runs per game.
The Brewers also lost ground in both the Central Division and wild-card standings. The Chicago Cubs won to open their lead back up to 2 1/2 games, and the St. Louis Cardinals' walkoff victory over the San Francisco Giants pulled them to within 2 games of the top spot.
BOX SCORE:Pirates 3, Brewers 0
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Williams, meanwhile, finished 2018 having shut out Milwaukee in all three of his starts spanning 19 innings.
Throw in his two-out infield single that started the game's decisive rally in the third, and it's little wonder the Brewers are happy to be done with him for the season.
The third inning ranked as the Brewers' best shot to get to Williams when starter Zach Davies singled with one out, giving him his first hit of the season.
Christian Yelich drew a two-out walk from Williams, only to see Ryan Braun swing at the first pitch and bounce out softly to third.
Williams then kick-started an unlikely rally with his bat in the bottom half of the frame.
With two outs he chopped one off the plate that Mike Moustakas rushed in and tried to bare-hand unsuccessfully. Adam Frazier followed with a single to center, and Starling Marte doubled to the corner in left to score both runners.
Handed that 2-0 lead, Williams faced no serious threats from there.
He erased a leadoff single by Erik Kratz in the fifth with a strikeout and a double-play grounder against the shift off the bat of Eric Thames, who was batting in place of Davies.
Davies (2-7) allowed four hits and a walk with three strikeouts over 66 pitches in his four innings of work, leaving him with a 3.32 earned run average in his four starts since returning from the disabled list (19 total innings).
Williams allowed a bunt single to Braun in the sixth then closed out the inning, giving him 19 shutout innings against the Brewers this year.
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In his three starts, he limited them to just seven hits and five walks while striking out 21.
But it's not as if Williams (14-9) has only had success against Milwaukee; he entered the game as the only pitcher in the major league to make 10 starts of at least five innings without allowing a run and nine starts of at least six shutout innings.
Since the all-star break, Williams has posted a major-league-best 1.19 ERA, best in the second half in Pirates history.
A Yelich double in the ninth against Pirates closer Felipe Vázquez gave the Brewers some life, but the lefty retired the next three hitters to close the game out.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
HOLDING PATTERN: Lorenzo Cain was out of the lineup for the third consecutive game with tightness in the right side of his rib cage. The Brewers went with the same alignment they've utilized since he went out, with Yelich in Cain's place in center, Braun in left and Curtis Granderson in right.
Cain entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth and grounded out, and said afterward that he expected to be cleared to play in the finale Sunday.
ALL GOOD: Kratz was incensed when he was hit high in the left shoulder by Clay Holmes in the eighth inning Friday. He flung his bat down, then exchanged words with Holmes both while he made his way down to first base as well as while Holmes was pitching to Orlando Arcia. It was Kratz's two-run single off Holmes that helped propel the Brewers to a 15-inning victory at Miller Park on Aug. 24, and Kratz had also homered in the six-run sixth Friday that ultimately beat the Pirates.
"I don't think there was intent," he said. "The part that irritates me is it was close to the head. When you get close to the head, it's a touchy area. I don't think he did it on purpose. If he did, I have no idea where it came from."
TAKE A SEAT: In the seventh inning Friday, Travis Shaw was ejected by home-plate umpire Marty Foster after Shaw yelled an expletive following a strikeout. It was something that wouldn't normally have prompted such a reaction from the umpire, but with maybe 1,000 people left in the stands following a 2-hour 14-minute rain delay, it was clearly audible.
"I wasn’t mad at him. It wasn’t directed at him," Shaw said. "It doesn’t matter. We won, 8-3. That’s all that matters."
CREATING SOME SPACE: With two more hits on Friday, Yelich upped his National League-leading batting average to .320. Cincinnati's Scooter Gennett, who'd arrived in Milwaukee last week with the lead, went 0 for 4 Friday to drop his average to .316. Atlanta's Freddie Freeman entered Saturday third at .311.
RACK 'EM UP: Shaw's sixth-inning homer Friday night gave him 30 for the second straight season, and the Brewers three players with 30 homers for the second straight season (Jesús Aguilar has 33 and Yelich has 31).
"It's a nice milestone," Shaw said. "A nice, round number."
RECORD
This year: 88-67
Last year: 82-73
COMING UP
Sunday: Brewers at Pirates, 12:35 p.m. Milwaukee LHP Wade Miley (5-2, 2.08) vs. Pittsburgh RHP Nick Kingham (5-6, 4.69). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: FM-94.5.