Davis solid in win over Pirates
Brewers pitch and slug their way to sweep
PITTSBURGH -- The Brewers wasted little time introducing a novel concept to
their top two pitchers: Run support.
At PNC Park, no less.
After scoring nine runs for Ben Sheets on Opening Day, the Brewers came back
Wednesday with another well-balanced attack to support Doug Davis, who
pitched six strong innings of a 10-2 win over the Pirates in front of 12,077
fans in Pittsburgh.
"Every game won't be like this," said Brewers newcomer Carlos Lee, who hit
his first home run and knocked in four. "We'll still have to go in there and
win 3-2 games, 4-3 games. Sometimes the offense is going to do it."
Lee went 2-for-4 with four RBIs including a two-run double and a solo home
run, and Junior Spivey also homered and scored three times to lead
Milwaukee's suddenly potent offense.
The team had all phases working this week, and scored a rare sweep at a
ballpark that has been nothing but trouble since it opened on the banks of
the Allegheny River in 2001. Before this season-opening, two-game set, the
Brewers were 11-26 here including 2-6 last season. After scoring 22 runs in
their nine previous games here (including a 9-6 win on Sept. 6, 2004) the
Brewers tallied 19 runs in two games this week.
"We try to forget about last year as much as possible," manager Ned Yost
said.
The same can be said for Sheets and Davis (1-0), despite their statistical
success. Both pitchers, Sheets a right-hander and Davis a lefty, enjoyed
breakout seasons in 2004 but finished with just 12 wins apiece. The Brewers
scored 3.53 runs per start for Sheets, second-worst in the National League,
while Davis got 4.56 runs of support, 12th-worst.
"Totally different lineup, totally different year," said Davis, who scattered
four hits over six innings in his season debut. "We've got the balance of
lefties and righties in our lineup, and, not only that, but we've got the
defense out there, too. ... The defense was unbelievable. They had three or
four diving catches in the outfield. That pumps you up."
The Brewers, who rebuilt the offense during the offseason, have scored nine
runs in consecutive games for the first time since April 27-28, 2004.
"No offense is going to score nine runs a day," Yost said. "But I'll take it
today."
The Brewers jumped on Pirates starter Kip Wells (0-1) in the first inning,
scoring four times on a trio of hits including two-run doubles by Lee and
Russell Branyan. Solo home runs by Spivey and Lee in the fourth and fifth
innings made it 6-0, and the Brewers tacked on two more against reliever John
Grabow in the sixth.
"Things kind of unraveled pretty quickly there," said Wells, who was tagged
with six runs, all earned, on five hits, five walks and a hit batter in his
five-inning stint. "Just a couple of inches here and there in the first
inning and things might have been different. But they came out swinging, I
was up in the zone and they took advantage of it."
Davis was on cruise control through five innings and was one out away from
escaping damage in the sixth when Tike Redman lined a 1-1 pitch for a two-run
home run. That was all the Pirates could muster against the Milwaukee
left-hander, who walked two and struck out five for his first win.
"My key pitch today was the change-up," Davis said. "It allowed me to get
ahead to a lot of hitters. Guys fouled it off or completely missed it."
It was a great start for one of the NL's most underrated 1-2 pitching
punches. Sheets and Davis each made 24 so-called "quality starts" last
season, when they were tagged with three or fewer earned runs in six or more
innings, tying Minnesota right-hander (and Wisconsin native) Brad Radke for
fourth-most in the Major Leagues. Sheets ranked fourth among Major League
qualifiers with a 2.70 ERA and Davis 15th with a 3.39, the league's only duo
in the top 15 in that key category.
"We expect those guys to pitch good," Lee said. "They've gotta go out there
and keep us in the game."
Lee's arrival is one reason the Brewers expect the offense to hold up its end
more often this season. On Monday, every positional starter collected at
least one hit in Sheets' 9-2 win. On Wednesday, seven of the eight chipped
in. Lyle Overbay was the only starter without a hit, though he walked and
scored a run.
After striking out four times on Monday, Spivey went 3-for-3 with three runs
scored and his first home run of the season. PNC Park had been especially
brutal to the Brewers' second baseman, who entered the game with a .175
career batting average here and the memory of July 2, 2004, when he suffered
a season-ending shoulder injury sliding headfirst into first base.
"I don't consider this ballpark jinxed," Spivey said. "I hadn't even thought
about it since the last time I got injured. ... I've struggled in the past
against [the Pirates'] staff, so it was good to get a couple of hits and get
going against this team."
Said Lee: "So far, so good. We're doing a good job. We're playing good
defense. We're pitching good. We got some big base hits. ... This team can do
it a lot of different ways. We play the small ball. We bunt, we move guys
over. Today, we got some doubles, some more extra-base hits. That proves that
now we can play both games -- the small one and the big one.
On to Chicago, where the Brewers will try to keep it up.
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