Overbay Traded to Toronto!
Pirates Finally Find A Way To Win
Redman continues his control of Brewer bats
Eric Sacharski
Tuesday, April 12 - Pittsburgh Pirates left-handed starter Mark Redman ran his career record against the Brewers to 4-1 lifetime, limiting the Brewers to just two runs and leading the Pirates to a 4-2 victory Tuesday night at Miller Park.
Redman received some stellar defensive help from leftfielder Craig Wilson, who made two excellent catches, the second one robbing rookie J.J. Hardy of his first career MLB homerun. But it was Redman’s dominating changeup that kept the Brewers bats silent all game. With the exception of a two run first inning, Redman pounded the strikezone inside, outside, up and down to finally help the Pirates earn their first win over the Brewers this season.
Brewers starter Gary Glover pitched a decent game, but the No. 5 starter was torched by the Pirates backup catcher David Ross. Ross finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBIs and a solo homerun to lead the Pirates offensive attack. Ross’ homerun in the 9th inning off of Derrick Turnbow gave the Pirates a two-run cushion and allowed closer Jose Mesa to notch the save without much of a challenge.
All of the Brewers runs came in the first inning Tuesday. Brady Clark opened the game with and single, then scored when Junior Spivey tripled off the wall in right field. Spivey scored on Lyle Overbay’s ground out to give the Brewers a quick 2-1 lead. But that was it for the Brewer offense all night, as Redman controlled the Brewers the rest of the way before finally leaving the game in the seventh, one inning after taking a line drive off his knee off of the bat of Carlos Lee.
The loss drops the Brewers record to 4-3 on the season.
The two teams will finish the three-game set today when lefty Chris Capuano faces Pirates righty Josh Fogg in a getaway game starting at 12:05 pm. The Brewers will have an off day on Thursday, so look for Ned Yost to play most of his regular starters to try and take the series two-games to one.
ON THE FARM
The Brewers Triple-A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds, dropped to 4-2 on the young season with an 11-2 loss to the Oklahoma Redhawks Tuesday. Center fielder Dave Krynzel continued his hot start, going 1-for-3 with a run scored. Rickie Weeks also chipped in with a 2-for-4 performance, legging out a triple and adding two RBIs.
On a bad note, the Sounds scheduled starter, prospect Jose Capellan, was scratched from his start because of a blister on his middle finger. Right fielder Cory Hart also continued to struggle, ending 0-for-4 and stranding four runners on base. Hart is off to a really slow start, as his batting average fell to .083 on the season.
Nashville and Oklahoma will finish up their series today when Ben Hendrickson (0-0. 6.75) takes on Oklahoma’s Kameron Loe (0-0, 3.00) in a game with a 12-noon start.
The Double-A Huntsville Stars got five shutout innings from lefty starter Dana Eveland, and outfielder Tony Gywnn Jr. drove in the winning run with an RBI single as the Stars beat Jacksonville 3-2 Tuesday. Eveland and Jacksonville starter Chad Billingsley (a top Dodgers prospect) dueled head-to-head before Gywnn drove in the game-winner in the 8th inning.
Eveland finished with 6 strikeouts an two walks in his five innings of work.
Huntsville and Jacksonville also finish their series today, as Stars righty Dennis Sarfate takes on Jacksonville’s Jonathon Broxton in an 11:50 am start.
The High-A Brevard County Manatees only had three hits in their game Tuesday against the Port St. Lucie Mets, but they proved to be just enough to score a 3-2 victory. Outfielder Steve Moss went 2-for-4 with two RBIs as the Manatees scored all three of their runs in the 6th inning.
The game also featured a pitching duel, with BC’s starter Carlos Villanueva getting the victory. Villanueva went head-to-head with St. Lucie’s starter Phillip Humber, the Mets No. 1 pick in last June’s player draft (out of Rice University).
The Manatees and St. Lucie conclude their three-game set today with a game scheduled for a 7 pm start.
The Brewers Low-A West Virginia Power team was handed their backsides on Tuesday, getting shut out by the Lexington Legends by a score of 8-0. The Power’s offense was AWOL all game, as they could only generate three hits in the full 9 innings. In fact, it was ugly all the way around for the Power as they also had 2 errors on defense and strike out a whopping 14 times.
Starter Josh Wahpepah allowed 7 hits, 6 earned runs and three homeruns in the game.
Lexington starter Ronnie Martinez dominated to the tune of just 1 hit, zero runs and nine strikeouts. The Legends got all of the offense they needed from outfielder Hunter Pence, as Pence went 3-for-3 with 3 runs, a double, two homeruns and five RBIs.
The Power and Lexington end their series with a game scheduled for a 7 pm start. Righty Greg Kloosterman looks to be the scheduled starter for the Power.