Martín Perez couldn’t control his changeup and the Milwaukee Brewers made him pay for it yesterday. Joe Block has a recap of another Pirates loss.
Manager Derek Shelton says Perez let the Brewers have some good swings.
Shelton says Perez had trouble commanding his changeup.
The Pirates make the short trip from Milwaukee to Chicago to open a series against the Cubs tonight. It’s a four-game series. Right-hander Jared Jones [2-4, 2.68 ERA] gets the start for the Pirates against Cubs’ lefty Justin Steel [0-0, 4.73 ERA]. The airtime is 7:15, first pitch at 7:40 on WCCS.
It doesn’t look like the Pirates will be going with a six-man rotation after all. With the bullpen struggling mightily, the team yesterday optioned starter Quinn Priester back down to Indianapolis and recalled reliever Carmen Mlodzinski. The right-handed Mlodzinski was supposed to be a key part of the Pirates’ bullpen this season but he came down with right forearm tightness in spring training, then struggled to find his form at Indy when he returned. He had a 2.25 ERA in 34 appearances for the Pirates last season.
ALTOONA CURVE
Po-Yu Chen pitched well for five innings, but Akron got to the right-hander for three runs in the 6th and the Curve lost to the Rubberducks, 4-3. Tres Gonzalez and Francisco Acuna each had two hits for the Curve.
Sean Sullivan pitches for Altoona tonight in the third game of the series.
