5-22-2025 – By Josh Booth – @bridge2buctober on X
Milwaukee comes to town after winning a series against the struggling Baltimore Orioles. The Brewers had a good enough April, going 16-11. But so far in May, they are 8-11. They also dropped their 4 games in March. They have not been more than 2 games over .500 in 2025. They also have gone 9-16 on the road. They are averaging 4.24 runs per game but are giving up 4.38.
The Pirates, on the other hand, are scoring just 2.92 runs per game and giving up 4.22 runs per game. Mike Burrows is making his season debut on Thursday, then the rest of the rotation will follow. – a strong rotation going into a 4-game series. The biggest question is if they can score enough runs to support that staff. Currently riding a streak of 26 games of 4 or less runs scored. That is tied for a major league record. With that said, 4 runs per game, this weekend, could likely result in a 3-1 series win.
5/22
Brewers: Aaron Civale 0-1, 3 IP, 15.00 ERA, 2 SO, 1 BB, 1.67 WHIP
Pirates: Mike Burrows (AAA Stats) 2-1, 32.1 IP, 2.51 ERA, 41 SO, 11 BB, 1.05 WHIP
5/23
Brewers: Freddy Peralta 5-3, 55.2 IP, 2.59 ERA, 57 SO, 20 BB, 1.06 WHIP
Pirates: Paul Skenes 3-5, 62.2 IP, 2.44 ERA, 62 SO, 16 BB, 0.95 WHIP
5/24
Brewers: Quinn Priester 1-2, 38.2 IP, 4.66 ERA, 25 SO, 22 BB, 1.47 WHIP
Pirates: Mitch Keller 1-6, 58 IP, 3.88 ERA, 48 SO, 17 BB, 1.31 WHIP
5/25
Brewers: Logan Henderson 3-0, 16 IP, 1.69 ERA, 23 SO, 4 BB, 0.81 WHIP
Pirates: Bailey Falter 3-3, 54 IP, 3.50 ERA, 39 SO, 18 BB, 1.13 WHIP
Brewers: Rhys Hoskins – As upset as Brewers fans may have been with Rhys Hoskins’ 2024 season, they are equally excited about how he’s been so far this season. His slash line is almost 100 points higher in all 3 stats so far this season. (.300/.402/.500, OPS .902) In his last 7 games, he’s batting .458 and slugging .958 with 3 HR, 8 RBI, and 5 BB. 11 hits in 7 games and 20 in his last 15 games while hitting .377. He homered Tuesday and Wednesday against the Orioles coming into this series.
Pirates: Rotation (Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Bailey Falter, Mike Burrows) – These four pitchers will take the ball in this series. Using Burrows’ AAA statistics look at the last 3 starts for all 4 pitchers combined.
12 G, 70.1 IP, 1.54 ERA, 12 ER, 3 HR, 23 BB, 74 SO, .194 AVG, 1.02 WHIP
Brewers: Christian Yelich – Yelich has just one hit in the last 7 days. In those 23 AB, he’s slashing .043/.120/.043. Typically a force in this lineup, he’s been struggling the last week and the majority of the season. Especially in May, he’s slashing .129/.176/.229.
Pirates: Joey Bart – Bart had just 1 hit in 12 AB against the Reds. He only has 3 hits since the Mets series, going back to May 11th when he had a 3-hit game against the Braves. His lone hit against the Reds was an RBI double, but that was his only time on base. Since May 11th his AVG has dropped from .301 to .262 and after hitting .310 in April, he’s batting .214 in May. It will be interesting to see if Henry Davis gets the first couple games of this series to ride his 2-hit performance Wednesday.
Brewers: Garrett Mitchell, Brandon Woodruff, Aaron Ashby, Jose Quintana, Robert Gasser, DL Hall, Blake Perkins, Nestor Cortes, Connor Thomas
Pirates: Endy Rodriguez, Colin Holderman, Johan Oviedo, Dauri Moreta, Nick Gonzales, Tim Mayza, Justin Lawrence, Enmanuel Valdez, Jared Jones
Notes
- Jared Jones had a successful surgery on his right elbow this week. Not Tommy John Surgery, though. Instead, it was an internal brace surgery. The timetable for return is 10-12 months.
- Will the Pirates score 5, or more, runs in any game this weekend? They have tied the MLB record for most consecutive games of scoring 4 or less runs (26).
- Bailey Falter has a 2.32 ERA at PNC Park this season in 5 starts. That includes his first home start against the Dodgers when he gave up 7 runs in 4 innings. Since then, he has surrendered just 1 run against him in 27 innings at PNC Park. He gets the start Sunday.
Steel City Pirates 