Pirates swept by Brewers in 5-2 defeat

The Pittsburgh Pirates suffered their sixth straight defeat on Sunday when they fell to the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2. It was also their second straight sweep at the hands of a division rival, put the Bucs two games under .500 at 34-36 and kept them in third place in the National League Central division.

The Bucs carried a 2-1 lead into the eighth inning on the strength of a two-run homer by Bryan Reynolds in the third, his eighth dinger of the year.

But the Pittsburgh bullpen couldn’t hold it down, as Angel Perdomo and Dauri Moreta combined to give up the late four runs, including three from Moreta in just a third of an inning, as the Brew Crew used a combination of walks, sacs and timely singles to stack the four.

The Bucs are now limping into another series with the Chicago Cubs, who are just a game and a half back of Pittsburgh for third in the division. And while the Bucs are still just 2.5 back of Milwaukee for first, it feels like the top of the division is a lot further away than that after the two sweeps in which Pittsburgh experienced failures in all phases of the game.

In some positive news, Henry Davis was called up in the hopes of generating some excitement and some offense, and I expect the youth movement to continue, particularly if the Bucs continue to struggle, so there’s definitely reason to tune in tonight to catch Davis’s debut.