MILWAUKEE _ The Pirates contained Eric Thames this week.
They had no answers, however, for Eric Sogard and Travis Shaw.
In their 4-2 defeat Thursday at Miller Park, the Pirates had four hits. Sogard and Shaw had six. They pestered right-hander Ivan Nova from the outset, when Sogard's leadoff single jumpstarted a 30-pitch first inning, to the end. Shaw clobbered an RBI double off the top of the left-field wall with two outs in the seventh, and the Milwaukee Brewers secured a series split.
After taking the first two games of their road series against the first-place Brewers (40-35), the Pirates (33-40) couldn't capture another. They fell Wednesday after Domingo Santana hit a go-ahead home run off reliever Daniel Hudson. In the finale, the Brewers showed why they are no fluke, coupling a strong start from right-hander Chase Anderson with an ambushing offense.
"Walking out of here, you give them credit for what they've done so far," manager Clint Hurdle said, readying for a series in St. Louis. "We've got work to do. I'm not going wild (and saying) we can't play with those guys. We can play with them. We have played with them."
Pittsburgh, now six games back of Milwaukee, limited the slugger Thames, who entered the week with 20 home runs, to one hit and eight strikeouts in 14 at-bats. The damage was done by others. Sogard's two doubles Thursday brought his series batting line to 7 for 15 and his season batting average to .366. Shaw homered and hammered two doubles off Nova.
That is, perhaps, what the game's biggest moment hinged upon. In the seventh, after Sogard doubled and Santana walked with two outs, Shaw strode to the plate. Shaw already had hit a solo home run and added an RBI double in his first three at-bats, and his track record against Nova was an impressive 6-for-9 hitting line with two homers. He nearly made it three.
Shaw laced a first-pitch fastball from Nova over left fielder John Jaso's head. The baseball struck the top of the wall and bounced back to Jaso, who fired the home plate in time to get Santana, who seemed to have slowed, expecting the ball had cleared the fence. Shaw thought the same, as he pulled into second base whirling his finger in the air, signaling a home run.
After a replay review, the play was ruled a one-run double. The Pirates had caught a break.
"He's one of the hitters you have to try to find a way to get out," Nova said of Shaw. "I pitched hard inside, the guy hit a bullet to first base. Threw a curveball, he hit a homer. Threw a sinker a little bit off the plate, the guy almost hit a homer. You've got to tip your cap."
Asked why he stuck with Nova to face Shaw, Hurdle said, "You've got (Jhan) Marinez in the bullpen. You're not going to go to (Wade) LeBlanc in that situation, just based on the left-on-left splits. Nova wanted to pitch. He felt he had an opportunity to get him. Based on what we had available, the big man wanted to pitch, and he had an extra day's rest (before) his next start."
Fours runs were charged to Nova's ledger over seven innings. He allowed 11 hits _ tying a career-high he has matched three times, last occurring in 2012 _ walked two and stuck out five. Afterward, Nova said, "I feel like I gave my team everything I had." He was taxed by the first inning and managed to keep the Pirates within striking distance through the seventh.
"It wasn't his 'A' game today," Hurdle said. "Probably a 'B' game."
The Pirates offense had few scoring chances. Anderson allowed two hits, two walks and two runs in six innings, striking out seven. The only runs occurred when Josh Bell ripped an RBI single in the first and Gregory Polanco tied the game briefly with a solo homer in the fifth.
They had two prime scoring opportunities after Bell's home run, and both fell apart.
In the sixth, Josh Harrison, standing on second base, saw Anderson grip a changeup and decided to steal third. The changeup floated high _ more like a pitch-out, Hurdle said _ and Harrison was thrown out. In the eighth, Polanco rolled a two-out single into shallow right field, but the second baseman Sogard made an acrobatic throw to nab Adam Frazier at home plate.
"We had a chance to do more," Hurdle said. "We didn't."
"We can't leave this place with our heads down," Nova added. "We've go to be proud of what we did this series. We'll face them after the All-Star break and see what happens then."
