Pirates swept by Brewers, lose SS Mercer to injury
MILWAUKEE – A lost weekend for the Pittsburgh Pirates wound up with them losing their shortstop.
The Pirates were swept in a three-game series by the last-place Milwaukee Brewers, falling 6-1 Sunday and watching Jordy Mercer make an early exit.
Mercer was carted off the field after colliding with Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez while trying to make a tag in the second inning. Mercer couldn’t put pressure on his left leg and was helped onto the cart.
Mercer was returning to Pittsburgh after the game to have the injury evaluated.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle called the injury “misfortunate.”
“I think if he’s (Gomez) on your team, it’s an aggressive slide,” he said. “If not, you know, he was straight into the base path with a sideways slide. It’s a baseball play. It’s not a gentleman’s game, but it’s a baseball play.”
Brewers manager Craig Counsell said he saw nothing wrong with Gomez’s slide and called the incident “an accident that you don’t like to see.”
Jeff Locke (5-6) allowed three runs in 7 1/3 innings.
Hurdle said it was a “very competitive outing” for Locke.
“He had a very competitive fastball on both sides of the plate (and) a very good changeup,” he said.
Locke said he got in trouble the third time through the lineup.
“They always say the more times a team sees you, they better they’ll do,” he said. “I think it’s true.”
Pittsburgh won 13 of 16 going into the All-Star break before getting swept at Miller Park.
Hurdle said he was not going to overreact to the tough start to the second half.
“The season has a long way to go,” he said. “We’ll look forward to starting the series there (Kansas City).”
Taylor Jungmann (5-1), added to the Brewers’ roster in early June, won his third straight decision. He gave up one run and five hits.
The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the fifth. Jaff Decker tripled off Gomez’s glove in center field and Locke blooped a single.
Milwaukee scored twice in the seventh when Gomez walked, Aramis Ramirez singled and Khris Davis doubled.
The Brewers broke it open with four runs in the eighth, helped by errors from Decker in left field and first baseman Travis Ishikawa.
Pirates CF Andrew McCutchen didn’t play. Hurdle said he wanted to give McCutchen a day off after a hectic All-Star break. McCutchen was 1 for 6 in the first two games of the series, but walked three times Saturday.
Pirates: OF Gorkys Hernandez (left shoulder discomfort) was placed on the 15-day disabled list before the game. The move was retroactive to July 13. RHP Wilfredo Boscan was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis. It is Boscan’s third stint with the Pirates this season, but he has yet to appear in a game.
Brewers: RHP Wily Peralta will make one more rehab start next week before the team expects him to return. Peralta has been on the 15-day DL (strained left oblique) since May 25.
Pirates: RHP A.J. Burnett (7-3) will being going for his eighth win in his last 10 starts when he starts the first game of the interleague series against Kansas City on Monday. The Royals counter with RHP Yordano Ventura (4-6).
Brewers: RHP Matt Garza (4-10) will come off the 15-day disabled list (right shoulder tendinitis) to start the first game of an interleague series against the Cleveland Indians Tuesday.