The Pirates will not be carrying a postseason ticket into October, but Thursday at PNC Park offered a useful marker all the same. Pittsburgh beat the NL Central champion Brewers 7-4, finishing the season series with a 7-6 edge over a Milwaukee club headed for another 95-win season and a serious run at the Commissioner’s Trophy.
A season-series win that means something
Milwaukee had already wrapped up its fourth straight division crown, popping champagne in the visiting clubhouse after Tuesday’s win while Pittsburgh moved to the edge of elimination. The Brewers also won Wednesday night to pull the season matchup even at six wins apiece.
The Pirates answered the next afternoon, taking the rubber game and securing their first winning season series against Milwaukee since 2018, when Pittsburgh went 12-7. The clubs split their shortened 2020 schedule at 5-5.
- Pittsburgh went 3-10 against Milwaukee a year ago.
- The Pirates took this year’s 13-game matchup, 7-6.
- They are the only NL Central club to post a winning record against the Brewers this season.
- Other teams with winning marks against Milwaukee include the Giants, Padres, Nationals, Athletics, Red Sox and Tigers.
Manager Don Kelly viewed the result as a measuring stick against the standard Pittsburgh is trying to reach.
“They have won the division, and that is where we’re trying to go,” Kelly said. “We have to keep finding ways to compete with them and improve. We played them well over the season, and they are a very tough club.”
The second inning broke Thursday open
Milwaukee starter Kyle Harrison collected two outs in the second inning, but the frame got away from him after a walk, a base hit and catcher’s interference loaded the bases.
Konnor Griffin put Pittsburgh ahead with a two-run double to left field. Oneil Cruz followed with a two-run single, and Brandon Lowe was hit by a pitch during his second trip to the plate in the inning, forcing home another run for a 5-1 Pirates lead.
With two members of their starting rotation unavailable for the rest of the season, the Pirates again built the afternoon around the bullpen. Wilber Dotel permitted one run across two innings. Khristian Curtis, coming off a difficult appearance at Wrigley Field, steadied the game with 3 1/3 innings before the relief corps handled the late work.
Henry Davis gave Pittsburgh more breathing room in the eighth, launching a two-run homer for the final 7-4 margin.
Milwaukee offers a blueprint, not a finish line
The season series had tilted Pittsburgh’s way early. The Pirates swept Milwaukee at home before the All-Star break to move ahead 5-1, then added another win on Aug. 3, the Trade Deadline. Milwaukee responded by taking three straight during that four-game series, setting up this week’s late-season showdown.
Closer Mason Montgomery said beating a club that has already clinched remains meaningful, even with Pittsburgh playing out the final stretch.
“It matters,” Montgomery said. “They’ve clinched, and they’re a really good team. We’re taking things day by day, and every win is important.”
There is also a larger lesson in the Brewers’ construction. Milwaukee ranks 19th in Major League Baseball payroll yet owns the most victories in the sport. Pittsburgh sits 24th in payroll and around the middle of the league in wins. The Brewers have sustained their success through a developed core and a group that has consistently played sound baseball, rather than by spending at the level of the Dodgers.
Kelly pointed to that consistency when discussing Milwaukee earlier in the week.
“When a team has the kind of success they have had, other clubs look at what drives it,” Kelly said. “They have not spent like the Dodgers. Money does not automatically produce wins or championships. You still have to play good baseball, and the Brewers have done that year after year.”
For Griffin, Thursday’s win belongs in the pile of positives Pittsburgh can carry forward.
“A lot of good things have happened for this team this year,” Griffin said. “We have to take those positives and the smaller wins, then use them to keep moving next season.”
