 had converted 21 straight save opportunities. Milwaukee lost for just the third time in its last 12 games.Felipe Rivero (5-2) earned the victory in relief. Frazier finished 2 for 5 with four RBIs. Starling Marte added two hits for the Pirates.The Brewers are trying to lock up the franchise's third playoff berth since 1982. The bullpen has keyed Milwaukee's persistent chase of the first-place Cubs and manager Craig Counsell didn't hesitate when rookie starter Aaron Wilkerson ran into trouble in the third inning.The Pirates ended a 21-inning scoreless drought when Frazier drilled a two-run triple and Marte followed with an RBI single to put them up 3-2, their first lead in nine days. It didn't last. Jacob Barnes came on for Wilkerson, a 28-year-old making his first major league start, and Pittsburgh's bats immediately went quiet.The Brewers used eight pitchers in all and moved in front in the seventh thanks to another erratic performance by Tyler Glasnow.Glasnow started the season in the rotation but was sent back to Triple-A Indianapolis due to control issues. Though he was dominant again at Triple-A, the command problems resurfaced again. He walked four of the six batters he faced, and Eric Thames' RBI double tied the game. The Brewers reclaimed the lead when Pittsburgh reliever A. J. Schugel walked in the go-ahead run.Knebel came on for a four-out save with tying run at second in the bottom of the eighth. Knebel got David Freese to hit a grounder, but Knebel's throw to first sailed wide, allowing Andrew McCutchen to race home from second.An inning later, Milwaukee's chance to pull even with Colorado was gone.TRAINER'S ROOMBrewers: RHP Jimmy Nelson is expected to miss a significant portion of the 2018 season while recovering from a partially torn labrum. Nelson suffered the injury after dislocating his shoulder while sliding back into first base against the Cubs earlier this month. ''When you get something taken from you on something that's bad luck frankly, it's tough to swallow,'' Counsell said. Nelson went 12-6 with a 3.49 ERA this season.Pirates: 2B Josh Harrison's surgically repaired left thumb will remain in a splint for the next 2-3 weeks but should be healed in time to go through his typical offseason workout program, trainer Todd Tomczyk said Wednesday. The same goes for C Francisco Cervelli, who is recovering from a sore left quadriceps.UP NEXTBrewers: Begin a pivotal four-game series at home against the Chicago Cubs on Thursday. Zach Davies (17-9, 3.89 ERA) starts the opener for the Brewers, who are 8-7 this season against the World Series champions.Pirates: Are off Thursday before welcoming St. Louis to PNC Park for a three-game set starting Friday. Ivan Nova (11-14, 4.20 ERA) faces Michael Wacha (12-8, 4.02).---More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
Brewers throw Wilkerson into fire vs. Pirates 7h ago• 3 min read PITTSBURGH -- Right-hander Aaron Wilkerson will become the 13th pitcher to start a game for the Milwaukee Brewers this season when he opposed the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.He might be the least likely.Wilkerson will be making his first major league start after his big-league debut came in relief last week. But he wasn't on many radars when it came to starting pitching options for the Brewers for much of the season, which he spent with Double-A Biloxi.His numbers in Biloxi were fine, if not eye-catching. He posted an 11-4 record with a 3.14 ERA. He struck out 143 and walked 36 in 142 1/3 innings. However, at 28, he was significantly more experienced than his competition.Not many players get called up from Double-A to the majors at the end of the season, but not many take the path Wilkerson took to get there, either.Undrafted out of Cumberland University, Wilkerson spent a year and a half bouncing around independent leagues. By the time he signed with the Boston Red Sox's organization in 2014, he was already as older than many major league rookies."He's got a different path, for sure," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Tuesday. "And one that tested, certainly, his love for the game. It could have been easy for him to kind of certainly go a different direction multiple times. But he's stuck to it, and he's a good pitcher. And that's why he's getting this shot." Not to put any more pressure on Wilkerson than already exists, but it is not exactly a throw-away September game. The Brewers have one more shot to add on against the struggling Pirates, whom they shut out on back-to-back nights to start the three-game series, before facing the first-place Chicago Cubs in a division showdown this weekend.Milwaukee, which trails the Colorado Rockies by one game for the second National League wild-card spot, is 3 1/2 behind Chicago in the NL Central."It's a big spot," Counsell said, "but we will feel like he has been pitching in a way that we think he can have success up here. So I am looking forward to it, and we will see where it gets us." Across the diamond, the Pirates are trying something different, too.After the rosters expanded in September, the Pirates called up left-hander Steven Brault and righty Tyler Glasnow from Triple-A Indianapolis. Brault and Glasnow were pitching in the rotation in the minors, and the Pirates wanted to see them perform in that role in the majors.However, Pittsburgh already had five starters, and none seemed eager to yield any playing time. The Pirates skipped some starts and pushed some starts back to try make it work, but Wednesday, they are going to try something else.Brault and Glasnow will both pitch, with Brault getting the start and Glasnow coming in midway through. Glasnow has pitched in relief before -- a few games at the end of the 2016 season -- but this will be something new to him and the Pirates. Even so, he is approaching it just like any other start."I'm just doing the same stuff," he said. "I'm not going to have a starter routine (before the game). I'll warm up in the 'pen. I obviously won't have all of my normal stretches and stuff, but it's the same game." Brault (1-0, 4.38 ERA) has faced the Brewers four times in his career and is 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA. Glasnow (2-7, 7.89) is 0-2 with an 8.00 ERA against Milwaukee in his career.
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