Brewers beat up on Andrew Heaney, sending Pirates to 7-1 loss

The Milwaukee Brewers got to left-hander Andrew Heaney early and never relented as the Pirates started their six-game road trip with a 7-1 loss Monday at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

The Brewers, who have won their last 10 games and are one of the hottest teams in baseball, got to Heaney for six runs (five earned) and nine hits over four innings. He threw 90 pitches, walked and struck out two.

Brewers second baseman Brice Turang hit his 11th home run of the season to start the bottom of the first inning, sending a 3-1 sinker 406 feet to center field. Christian Yelich added another solo home run in the third inning to make it 2-1.

The Brewers scored at least one run in three of the first four innings and scored four in the third, following Yelich’s home run. Right fielder Sal Frelick and center fielder Brandon Lockridge recorded RBI singles. Lockridge came home to make it 5-1 when Joey Bart attempted to throw out Joey Ortiz at second base. His throw short-hopped Jared Triolo and bounced toward the second-base hole.

“They were able to get guys on base,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “They are a scrappy team. They find a way to put the ball in play and do a lot of different things. You saw the bunt, going the other way, stringing hits together. They strung a lot together there in that inning.”

Heaney, who has produced a 4.99 ERA over 23 starts, has given up 24 home runs, which is the fourth most in the major leagues. He has allowed at least one in six of his last seven starts and gave up three to the Minnesota Twins on July 12.

After a solid start to the season, in which he produced a 2.61 ERA in April, Heaney has struggled over the last two months. He allowed seven earned runs in back-to-back starts at the end of June and made one start in July that lasted five or more innings.

Heaney also allowed seven earned runs against the White Sox on July 20 but bounced back to give up two hits and no earned runs against the Diamondbacks in his next start. He hasn’t pitched at least five innings in all three of his August starts.

“He’s had some good (starts) in there,” Kelly said of Heaney’s struggles dating to June. “But, I think for all of our guys, it’s just the fastball command. Being able to locate that, especially for him on the inner rail and pitching up and in, it opens up his changeup and his breaking ball. Maybe a little bit of that tonight, but I thought more so, in other starts, the command is what eluded him.”

Bart, who’s slashing .242/.349/.311 with a .660 OPS after a breakout season last year, hit his first home run since April 7 and second of the season on a 92 mph sinker from Brewers starter Jose Quintana. It traveled 356 feet down the right-field line to tie the score at one in the third inning. It was the first opposite-field home run of his career.

“That was a really good swing, going oppo there down the line,” Kelly said. “He’s had some good at-bats recently and put a really good swing on that one.”

It was the lone offensive bright spot for the Pirates as they mustered three hits, went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and left three on base. Quintana worked six innings, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out three. Grant Anderson and Shelby Miller threw three innings of clean relief to close it out for Milwaukee.

The Pirates stranded Triolo on third base in the third inning, following Bart’s home run, and never pushed another runner past second base. Bryan Reynolds doubled in the sixth inning for the Pirates’ only other extra-base hit. Reynolds, Bart and Triolo were the three Pirates who recorded a hit. Liover Peguero, Tommy Pham and Nick Gonzales all went 0 for 4.

Pham and Gonzales both made solid contact in multiple at-bats. Pham recorded exit velocities above 100 mph in all four of his trips to the plate, and three of the four resulted in an expected batting average above .550.

The same went for Gonzales. All four of his at-bats recorded expected batting averages above .300. His third-inning lineout to center field recorded a .550 xBA, according to Baseball Savant.

“I know we didn’t get a lot to show for it, but I thought we swung the bats pretty well tonight. There was a lot of solid contact,” Kelly said. “Tommy Pham squared up four balls. Gonzo lined out. I know we need to get the results and find a way and we need to be better. But I thought we did a pretty good job of staying in the zone, especially against a guy like Quintana, who can mix it up and throw his changeup.”

Chase Shugart, who was placed on the 15-day IL on July 8 with left knee inflammation, was activated Monday afternoon and relieved Heaney. He covered three innings, allowed two hits and an earned run while striking out five, walking none and improving his ERA to 3.64 in 33 appearances this season. Dauri Moreta was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis as the corresponding move for Shugart.

Kyle Nicolas pitched one inning of relief and struck out Turang while not allowing a run.

The Pirates dropped to 51-69 and remained in last place in the NL Central.