PITTSBURGH _ Elias Diaz lay facedown on the infield dirt Monday night. He grimaced, and with his right hand he smacked third base. In an attempt to jumpstart the offense and snap a shutout in the seventh inning against the Milwaukee Brewers, Diaz had followed third-base coach Joey Cora's windmilling right arm and tried to stretch a one-out double into a triple.
He was out.
He was steamed.
Such is life lately for this offense. The Pirates' issues in the batter's box and on the base paths continued Monday in a 3-0 series-opening loss to the Brewers (80-70) before a crowd of 16,283 at PNC Park. The game ended when Gregory Polanco was tossed trying to leg out a double.
The Pirates (68-83) have lost six consecutive games and 11 of their past 12. In those 11 losses, they have scored a total of 15 runs. They are 1 { games ahead of the last-place Cincinnati Reds.
It has been a whale of a week for the Pirates offense. Their only lead was in the first inning Wednesday when Andrew McCutchen smoked a solo home run before the Brewers had a chance to hit. They tied the score in the bottom half of the inning. The Pirates have not ended an inning in possession of a lead in the past 54 innings, since their 7-0 win Sept. 11.
On Monday, Brewers left-hander Brent Suter scattered five hits and four strikeouts over five scoreless innings. The bullpen handled the Pirates the rest of the way.
Right-hander Jameson Taillon (7-7) allowed two runs over five-plus innings. He gave up six hits, including a solo home run, walked one and struck out four on 92 pitches.
Ryan Braun opened the scoring with a solo shot, his 17th homer this season, in the fourth. Taillon was targeting the inside corner, but his 1-0 changeup caught too much of the plate and Braun gave it a ride into the seats beyond the notch in left-center field.
Through five innings, Taillon had allowed three baserunners, and two were erased on double plays. In the sixth, however, his outing came to an abrupt end. After pinch-hitter Jonathan Villar doubled leading off the inning, Eric Sogard punched a single the other way, putting runners on the corners. A wild pitch advanced Sogard to second, a scoring threat fully alive with no outs.
Pitching coach Ray Searage attempted to straighten Taillon with a mound visit. It did not have the desired effect. Neil Walker, seeing a curveball for the third time in four pitches, looped an RBI single into shallow center field. The Brewers doubled their lead to 2-0. Taillon was lifted.
Reliever A.J. Schugel escaped the two-on, no-out jam and lowered his ERA to 1.74. Rookie Edgar Santana turned in a scoreless seventh, and in the eighth George Kontos was charged an earned run when Jordy Mercer, shifted to the right of second base, whiffed on a grounder.
