The Pirates and Brewers played a sloppy ball game last night, with Milwaukee taking advantage of an extremely poor third inning by Bucco pitchers Josh Fleming and Luis Ortiz. Joe Block has the recap of the Pirates’ loss.
The series concludes this afternoon at PNC Park. It’s a top-notch pitching matchup with the Pirates’ Mitch Keller [2-2, 4.80 ERA against Milwaukee’s right-hander Freddy Peralta [2-0, 1.90 ERA]. Airtime is 12:10 on WCCS.)
GM Ben Cherington said yesterday that the team has not determined a pitch count Paul Skenes has to reach in order to be promoted to the Pirates, “and if we did, we probably wouldn’t share it publicly.” Skenes threw 71 pitches yesterday in an Indianapolis win over Omaha. That’s his highest pitch total yet, as he surrendered two runs, one earned in 4-and-a-third innings. They were the first runs he’s allowed this season in five starts.
Cherington also talked about the Pirates’ pitch count management of rookie sensation Jared Jones, saying they’re trying to “strike a balance between the battle of the day and the war over the next six months.”
Indianapolis won their game, 7-4, over Omaha as Nick Gonzalez had three hits, including his second home run of the season. The former number one draft choice is hitting .402 this season.
ALTOONA
Bubba Chandler didn’t make it out of the first inning as Altoona lost to Akron, 8-7. He didn’t allow any hits but walked two and hit a batter as reached his one-inning pitch count limit of 34. First baseman Seth Beer was 4-for-4 for the Curve. Kervin Pichardo had 2 hits with a 3-run homer and Joe Perez and Jase Bowen each had two hits.
Sean Sullivan pitches for the Curve in the third game of the series tonight.
