 for six runs and six hits in the third, when two missed catches in the outfield started the trouble for Pittsburgh.Right fielder Gregory Polanco had the ball pop out of his glove on a long sacrifice fly by Jesus Aguilar. Center fielder Starling Marte raced and dove for Travis Shaw's sinking liner, but the ball trickled free for a double. Ryan Braun followed with an RBI single.Schoop hit a solo shot in the seventh off Nick Kingham, who was recalled Saturday from Triple-A Indianapolis.Chase Anderson (9-7) cruised through the first four innings for Milwaukee. He allowed Adeiny Hechavarria's two-out RBI double in the fifth, then fell apart in the sixth.Adam Frazier, who hit a three-run homer in the Pirates' 9-1 win Saturday night, teed off on Anderson for a two-run shot and Polanco followed with a solo drive that pulled the Pirates to 6-4. A single by Francisco Cervelli chased Anderson with nobody out and brought on Josh Hader.Corey Dickerson grounded to second baseman Schoop, who tossed to shortstop Orlando Arcia at second. Cervelli slid into Arcia as he made the relay throw to first. Second base umpire D. J. Reyburn called Cervelli out for interference and gave the Brewers a double play. Elias Diaz grounded out to end the inning.Hader followed up with a 1-2-3 seventh, and Joakim Soria worked around two infield throwing errors in the eighth. Jeremy Jeffress, who blew a save Friday night, pitched the ninth for his seventh save.Archer, who exited his previous start against Atlanta after four innings with left leg discomfort, walked two and struck out five in his second career start against Milwaukee. His first, a 2-1 victory, came as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays last August.TRAINER'S ROOMPirates: INF Josh Harrison wasn't going to play in a precautionary move, but he did pinch-hit in the fifth. He's been dealing with a left hamstring issue and left Saturday night's game in the eighth after hustling from first on a double by Kevin Newman. ''Everything was fine up to that point,'' Harrison said. Asked if a trip to the disabled list was possible, he said: ''I don't plan on it.'' Brewers: In the seventh, Pirates reliever Kyle Crick hit Shaw with a pitch just above the right knee. After a brief delay, Shaw trotted down to first.UP NEXTPirates: RHP Ivan Nova (7-8, 4.20 ERA) pitches against RHP Jack Flaherty (7-6, 2.97) and the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday in the opener of a three-game road series.Brewers: RHP Junior Guerra (6-8, 3.72) makes his fourth start this season against Cincinnati on Tuesday as the Brewers begin a six-game road trip.---More MLB: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
StubHubStubHubArcher tries to extend Pirates' success vs. Brewers 1h ago• 3 min read MILWAUKEE -- For much of the last year, the Milwaukee Brewers were rumored to be a potential landing spot for right-hander Chris Archer.The Brewers, though, never consummated a deal for the right-hander who was ultimately dealt by Tampa Bay to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who'll send Archer to the mound Sunday in their series finale against the Brewers at Miller Park.Archer hasn't exactly been dominant since joining the Pirates. In four starts for Pittsburgh, he's 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings of work. But he's taken steps toward improving his overall game during that short stretch, specifically by incorporating a two-seam fastball and curveball into an arsenal under the tutelage of Pirates' pitching coach Ray Searage."I know most 29-year-olds don't have untapped potential. But I do," Archer told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette over the weekend. "I've done some great things, but I want to be even more consistent. With the things I'm implementing now, the results aren't necessarily there immediately, but the process is so good, man." Along with his four-seam fastball, his repertoire consisted primarily of sliders to right-handers and changeups to lefties. He hadn't thrown a two-seamer in nearly four years before joining the Pirates but has seen the benefits and now is working to refine the pitch."It's just a matter of trusting it," Archer said. "I've already seen positive results. I've thrown more two-seamers in the time I've been here than I have in the last three or four years. I've gotten more outs inside than I have in the past couple years too. It's not necessarily an experiment, but the more production I get the more I believe, and it starts to snowball." He'll take the mound Sunday feeling healthy despite leaving his last start early with a leg injury. Archer lasted only four innings but held the Braves to a run on five hits and a walk while striking out three, ultimately taking the loss as Pittsburgh fell to the Braves, 1-0.That loss came in the midst of a challenging stretch for the Pirates' offense. They'd scored just 18 runs in 11 games leading up to the Brewers series but have scored 15 during the first two games in Milwaukee, including eight of them over the final three innings Saturday against a Brewers' bullpen that's gasping for air lately.Milwaukee's bullpen had been a strength all season but carried a 6.13 ERA for the month into Saturday night's game -- the worst in the National League during that stretch."We need these guys to pitch well," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "We can't count on less from them. They're going to have to get outs, and I think they will. A couple of guys are going through a stretch where they're not getting outs." Despite those struggles, Counsell still has faith his group can get back to form as the Brewers try to stay in the thick of the National League Wild Card race. Following their loss Saturday, the Brewers are tied with the Rockies for the second postseason spot, a half-game behind the Cardinals."We just have to keep believing and keep working, because they're going to be in those situations. We've got to cover 27 outs, and we're going to need them. We're going to keep trying to get them going. We've got to stick to that." Right-hander Chase Anderson gets the start Sunday for the series finale. He struck out six while holding the Reds to two runs on two hits over six innings and never once pitched out of the stretch his last time out but has struggled against Pittsburgh this season, going 0-2 with a 5.91 ERA in two starts.He's not alone, either. The Brewers have dropped nine of 12 meetings with the Pirates in 2018, scoring 35 runs overall, including just 20 in those losses.
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