Milwaukee’s offense erupts against Archer
Chris Archer didn't fare so well Sunday against a Milwaukee Brewers team that reportedly had tried to trade for him last month.
Mike Moustakas and Manny Piña each hit two-run home runs to spark a six-run third inning against the righthander, and the Brewers went on to beat the Pirates, 7-4, on a hot and muggy afternoon at Miller Park.
Jonathan Schoop also homered for Milwaukee, which won its first series this season against Pittsburgh despite another uneven start from Chase Anderson and some shaky late-game defense.
"They’ve kind of had our numbers this year," Anderson said. "I just think back to the five-game series right before the allstar break and they had us. They’ve played us really well this year, so to get a series win against those guys is huge."
Everything came together early in this one for the Brewers, beginning with Anderson successfully navigating the first three innings while facing the minimum.
He then received some major run support in the bottom of the third against Archer, whom the Pirates surprisingly landed just before the trading deadline in exchange for a king's ransom of prospects something the Brewers weren't motivated to surrender.
Lorenzo Cain opened by tripling into the right-field corner and, after Christian Yelich struck out, he tagged on a Jesús Aguilar fly to right and scored with a nice head-first slide just ahead of a strong throw by Gregory Polanco.
Travis Shaw followed with a liner to center that Starling Marte reeled in at first with a dive, but the ball popped loose from his glove as he hit the ground. Shaw wound up with a double, and one batter later he scored when Ryan Braun singled to left.
Moustakas followed with a homer to right to double Milwaukee's lead to 4-0. Then after Schoop singled, Piña took Archer deep into the Pittsburgh bullpen to make it a six-run inning - the Brewers' biggest outburst since they scored six in the first against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 4.
"Just kind of feeding off each other is what happened,” Cain said. “I was happy I was able to get it started today. We definitely have a trend of scoring in one inning and then not scoring the rest of the game. We’re going to try to fix that and hopefully be more consistent.”
Indeed, that offensive inconsistency reared its ugly head again after the big third inning.
Archer (1-2) retired the final four batters he faced before leaving after four innings, and Nick Kingham pitched a 1-2-3 fifth to make it seven straight set down as Pittsburgh began to mount its comeback.
It started with a leadoff double by Marte, and new Brewer killer Adam Frazier followed with his second homer in as many days to make it 6-3. Five pitches later Polanco went deep to right-center as well, cutting Milwaukee's lead to 6-4.
The homers were the 27th and 28th of the season against Anderson, most in the National League and third-most in the majors.
Francisco Cervelli followed with a single and that was all for Anderson (9-7), who departed after allowing seven hits and the four runs with three strikeouts over 87 pitches.
Josh Hader replaced Anderson and got a ground-ball double play and another groundout to halt the Pirates' rally. Schoop then led off the bottom of the sixth with a long homer to left-center, his second since joining the Brewers on July 31.
Joakim Soria worked around a pair of throwing errors and a balk to strand a pair of runners in the eighth, then Jeremy Jeffress faced the minimum in the ninth to record his seventh save of the season and give the Brewers four wins in six games on the homestand.
"There were some strange games on this homestand but I felt like we held serve winning two out of three each series," manager Craig Counsell said. "Winning series is going to lead to a lot of good things. We’ll take it. We got through it.
"Nice off-day tomorrow and on the road for a big trip."
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
FAMILIAR FACE: Schoop has been in and out of the lineup, but it came as no surprise that he got a start Sunday with Archer on the mound. Schoop entered the game hitting .382 with six homers and eight RBI in 34 career at-bats against Archer. The six homers are the most against Archer by any player, and the familiarity stems from the players' frequent meetings in the American League East Schoop with the Baltimore Orioles and Archer with the Tampa Bay Rays.
CYCLE WATCH: The Brewers hit for the team cycle in the decisive third with Cain's triple, Shaw's double, Braun's single and Moustakas' homer all within a six-batter span.
ON A ROLL: Counsell was asked how he's been able to get his team back on track in day games of late after struggling without the lights on for most of the season. The Brewers improved to 21-31 in day games and 6-15 on Sundays in beating the Pirates.
"We made a significant change, and Stephen Vogt has been taking out the lineup card," he quipped. "He’s 3-0. He’s a 3-WAR lineup card taker."
YIKES: A couple innings before Milwaukee had its defensive hiccups, Pittsburgh made a pretty embarrassing gaffe on a popup on the infield by Piña. Every Pirates infielder and Kingham all converged on the ball before first baseman Cervelli - a catcher by trade - called for it, only to have it sail over his glove and drop behind him. Despite not touching the ball, Cervelli was charged with an error.
DOWN TO THE WIRE: The Brewers' top two minor-league affiliates, Class AAA Colorado Springs and Class AA Biloxi, are in the midst of tight battles at the top of their respective leagues. The Sky Sox lost at Oklahoma City on Saturday, snapping a seven-game winning streak that was their longest since 2007 and dropping them into second place in the Pacific Coast League's American Northern Division at a half-game out with 10 left to play. The Shuckers, meanwhile, lost at Mississippi as their lead in the Southern League's South Division shrank to a half game over Mississippi and Pensacola. Biloxi, the first-half Southern League champion, has eight games remaining.
RECORD
This year: 73-59 Last year: 68-64
ATTENDANCE
Sunday: 39,607
This year: 2,287,615 (34,661 avg.) Last year: 2,049,100 (31,047 avg.)
COMING UP
Monday: Off-day.
Tuesday: Brewers at Reds, 6:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Junior Guerra (6-8, 3.72) vs. Cincinnati RHP Anthony DeSclafani (6-4, 4.26). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.