Bucs lose in wild 9th; Brault sharp in return

PITTSBURGH -- After the Pirates’ 4-3 loss to the Brewers on Tuesday night, their 20th defeat in the past 24 games, starter Steven Brault stood in front of his locker and acknowledged the obvious.

“Since the break, we’ve been bad,” Brault said. “That’s the only way you can put it.”

Brault also nailed the particularly maddening aspect of the Pirates’ second-half tailspin, one that has now seen them lose four straight games and eight consecutive series.

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“There’s so many one-run games,” Brault said. “There’s so many games where they just get away at the end there, and that’s really unfortunate. That’s a tough way to lose.”

This one was no exception. It was the seventh time the Pirates have lost by one run since the All-Star break. And the way the Brewers scored what turned out to be the deciding run was, indeed, tough to swallow.

The Pirates were trailing by one run in the ninth inning when the Brewers loaded the bases with two outs. Reliever Kyle Crick nearly escaped the jam, as Elias Díaz caught Travis Shaw between first and second base. Diaz made a quick throw to first baseman José Osuna, who fired the ball back to Diaz. The rundown was on.

This was all part of the Brewers’ plan -- well, sort of. Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said his team got the right outcome without properly executing the intended play.

“We were baiting a throw to first base so that [Trent] Grisham could score, but he hesitated, and that’s what caused the problem,” Counsell said. “It was set up pretty darn good to work, and Grisham just hesitated.”

Caught between third base and home plate when Diaz received the ball, Grisham turned back toward third. Diaz threw it to third baseman Colin Moran, who chased Grisham back down the line. But Diaz never left the baseline, so even as Osuna caught Moran’s throw and tagged Grisham, home-plate umpire Joe West was pointing at Diaz then signaling toward the plate.

Diaz didn’t touch Grisham, but West ruled that Diaz has impeded the runner’s progress by standing in the baseline. Therefore, Grisham scored to make it a two-run game and the inning continued.

Diaz hadn’t watched the play when he met with reporters after the game, but the catcher said he felt like there was time for Moran to throw the ball back to him rather than Osuna. Either way, Diaz didn’t feel like he was blocking Grisham’s path to the plate.

“Unfortunately, the right call was made. Once Elias let go of the ball, he stayed in the baseline,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “You don’t have to have contact with the runner. … Once you make that throw, you’ve got to get out of the way.”

That almost made the Pirates’ ninth-inning rally even more frustrating. Diaz singled and scored on Pablo Reyes’ double to right-center, pulling the Bucs within one run. Then Erik González chose to bunt on his own even after the play was called off, bringing up Melky Cabrera and Kevin Newman with one out and Reyes 90 feet away from scoring the tying run.

“You’ve still got to like Melky having a shot at getting that guy in then Newman following him,” Hurdle said.

Cabrera grounded out and Newman lined out back to reliever Matt Albers, however, leaving Reyes stranded at third. The Pirates fell 17 games under .500 for the first time since Sept. 27, 2011.

“It’s made our season, right now, look like it’s been a really bad season, but that’s just not the case. It’s just a really bad stretch,” Brault said. “I keep saying we’re not going to finish out this way. It’s a bad stretch, and it’s going to look bad. We’ll get it back together.”

Brault did his part on Tuesday, picking up right where he left off before he was sidelined by a strained shoulder. The lefty retired the first 12 batters he faced in his return from the injured list, and he only allowed two runs on three hits over 5 1/3 innings.

Brault worked four perfect innings with four strikeouts to begin his first Major League outing since July 5. He struck out six and walked one on the night, but that one walk -- paired with the only hit against him that left the infield -- allowed the Brewers to score two runs in the fifth.

“He was executing. He was hitting his pitches, hitting his zones and locations,” Diaz said. “The results showed in those first four innings.”

Brault owns a 2.54 ERA over his past 10 appearances. In eight starts since rejoining the rotation, the lefty has put together a 2.21 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 40 1/3 innings. As the Pirates continue looking toward next year amid this brutal stretch, Brault hopes to stake a claim for a permanent spot in the rotation.

“I’ve always wanted to be a starter, so I’m going to keep doing what I can to try to make it look in their eyes like I should be in this rotation going forward,” Brault said. “We’ll see how it all works out. This is where I want to be. I feel good about where I’m at.”