Outside of two solo homers, Bucs endure quiet night against Crew

MILWAUKEE -- The talk around the Pirates following Monday’s Trade Deadline focused entirely on pitching. But Spencer Horwitz made a salient point when discussing the additions.

"They’re only going to help us,” Horwitz said. “We know our offense has been great at times, but it’s been scuffling recently. So we have to get back on our end, too.”

That did not happen during a 4-2 loss to the Brewers on Tuesday at American Family Field, as the Pirates struggled to get much of anything going offensively.

Right-hander Logan Henderson struck out eight over six innings of two-run ball. As a team, the Pirates struck out 11 times and couldn't mount much of a sustained attack, finishing with just two at-bats with runners in scoring position.

After a one-out walk in the seventh, a double play ended the inning. Bryan Reynolds and Esmerlyn Valdez struck out looking to end a two-on, one-out rally in the eighth. Overall, the third, fourth, fifth and sixth hitters in Pittsburgh’s lineup went 0-for-16 with seven strikeouts.

Since the All-Star break, the Pirates are just 19th in runs scored with 68, a far cry from their top-five form for much of the season.

"We need to get back to having consistent at-bats," Pirates manager Don Kelly said. "Yesterday, we came up with the big hit. Today, we weren’t able to.

"That’s been a consistent thing. When we’ve gotten that big hit with runners in scoring position, we've scored runs."

With Ryan O'Hearn out, the Pirates are seeing some other concerning trends developing. Consider:

• Bryan Reynolds is hitting .194 since July 17.

• Valdez sits at .161, though he does have four homers in that time.

• Horwitz is 1-for-12 since returning with five strikeouts. Also Monday, Horwitz said he's not happy with how he's been swinging the bat, though the rust is understandable given the time he's missed.

The Pirates (57-58) actually drew first blood Tuesday, as Jacob Gonzalez staked them to a 1-0 lead in the third inning with his fifth homer of the season and third since the July 10 trade that brought him to Pittsburgh.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, the Brewers answered in the bottom half with a solo shot from left fielder Jackson Chourio.

Milwaukee’s approach against Jared Jones seemed to be to using center and the opposite field. Chourio executed that perfectly on a 1-1 four-seamer over the heart of the plate.

The homer was the first in a month for Chourio, while the Brewers extended their lead to 2-1 the next inning on another solo home run. First baseman Andrew Vaughn saw another fastball, this one a little down, and crushed it 417 feet at 107.1 mph to center.

The two homers Tuesday matched Jones’ entire total from July. To say Jones was upset with himself after this one would be a severe understatement.

"Terrible. [Dog crap]. Just about any word you can think of that means bad," Jones said. "That’s what I think."

Jones was their best starting pitcher in July with a 2.00 ERA in 27 innings with six walks and 33 strikeouts, but this obviously wasn’t the same as those five outings.

Jones' four-seam velocity was down about 1 mph, and he used the pitch less. He was also a victim of the Brewers’ approach, where they were comfortable going the other way with heat.

"It was pretty terrible," Jones said. "Sure hope it’s just one of those days. I had a lot of momentum leading up to this start, then I did nothing."

After a run-scoring single from Chourio in the fourth, Endy Rodriguez brought the Pirates back to within a run at 3-2 in the top of the fifth with his first homer since July 2, But unfortunately for the Pirates, that was it.

Right fielder Luis Lara rounded out the scoring with an RBI single off Wilber Dotel in the fifth.

Kelly ejected

Pirates manager Don Kelly had another early night, as he was ejected in the fifth inning. Gonzalez was hitting when Kelly argued with home-plate umpire James Hoye following the fifth pitch of the at-bat.

Kelly said Hoye called ball but signaled strike. The Pirates manager was also upset because Gonzalez did not have the opportunity to challenge.

"We’re fighting for every single pitch," Kelly said. "That’s what I talked to the guys about. It’s a hard game. Umpires aren’t going to be perfect. Don’t expect them to be perfect. In that moment, if [Gonzalez] wanted to challenge, felt like he should have been able to."

What ultimately got Kelly: From the dugout, he mouthed to Hoye “that’s on you” after Gonzalez lined out to right. That was enough for Hoye, who sent Kelly to the showers for the MLB-high sixth time this season.

Yates debuts

It was buried under a slow night for the offense and Jones' frustration, but Kirby Yates made his Pirates debut and looked solid, delivering a 1-2-3 eighth.

The veteran reliever needed just 11 pitches to induce three fly-ball outs, two of those three coming on splitters.

"Good," Kelly said. "Had a real professional inning. Really excited to add these guys to the bullpen."

Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.