Pirates Vs. Brewers: Charlie Morton's Strong Outing Spoiled As Bucs Lose 2-1

For a while, it looked like the Pirates would earn a rare win in Milwaukee on Sunday. Andrew McCutchen staked the Bucs to a 1-0 lead with a ground rule double that scored Garrett Jones in the first inning and Charlie Morton cruised through seven scoreless innings.

In the eighth inning, however, the wheels flew off the wagon for the Bucs, as Milwaukee's Ryan Braun singled off Pittsburgh closer Joel Hanrahan to drive home the tying run before ex-Pirate Nyjer Morgan drove in the winning run on a walk-off sacrifice fly in the tenth frame.

With that, another road trip to Wisconsin ended with a sweep for the Pirates who are now 3-36 in their last 39 games at the Brewers' Miller Park.

Morton was very effective in his 7.1 innings. He allowed just that one run in the eighth while piling up five strikeouts against only two walks. Hanrahan's second blown save of the season, however, left the starter with a no-decision. Morton has now gone three straight starts of at least seven innings pitched and one or no runs allowed.

At the plate, shortstop Ronny Cedeno's 2-4 performance Sunday was the highlight of Pirates' six-hit effort against Brewers' starter Shaun Marcum and Co. No other Pirate had more than one hit. Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker, a combined 1-9 in the game, stranded five and four runners on base respectively.

The Pirates return to PNC Park tomorrow night for a three game set against the Cardinals. They were 2-4 on their road trip to San Francisco and Milwaukee.