Game 9: Miller Park, Milwaukee, WI
Pittsburgh Pirates vs Milwaukee Brewers – Sunday, May 26, 2o13
We rented a car at O’Hare and drove up to Milwaukee in just under two hours. It was a beautiful day to be out on the road. We had an early lunch at Balistreri’s Italian restaurant (there is no Hard Rock Café in Milwaukee) and took their shuttle to the ballpark. We got to Miller Park well before the game and had plenty of time to walk around the outside taking pictures of statues and plaques. There is little doubt that this is Bob “Mr. Baseball” Uecker’s town.
This turned out to be yet another exciting ball game at yet another spectacular ballpark. This was our first time at a stadium with a retractable roof and the place is absolutely beautiful. We had seats by the third base line, just a few rows behind the visitor’s dugout, and it was a perfect day to be sitting outside. Lots of sunshine, but not too hot. No need for a roof today.
It was also the “Ryan Braun Bobblehead Day” at Miller. So we each got one. As it turned out, Braun, arguably the best hitter in the National League in the last couple of years, would come to bat at several critical junctures during the game, but with mixed results. It was the Pirates who commandeered the contest early by posting a run in the second. Brewer’s ace Yovani Gallardo issued a two-out walk to Michael “Fort” McKenry and the next hitter, Jordy Mercer, brought him home with a triple to center fielder Carlos “Go-Go” Gomez. The home team had a chance to respond at the bottom of the frame as Aramis Ramirez led off with a double. The Brewers then made two outs although the second out advanced Ramirez to third. That brought second baseman Rickie Weeks to the plate. A fan behind us pleaded loudly “Just hit a single, Rickie” and then added a most memorable line: “I guess you can’t spell Weeks without two E’s and a K.” Sure enough, Weeks, batting sub-Mendoza, struck out and stranded Ramirez at third. The Pirates would add three more in the third via a sac fly by Garrett Jones and a two-run double by Pedro “El Toro” Alvarez down the right field line that just stayed fair by inches. The Brewers again had a chance to respond in the same inning. Braun came to bat with men on first and third and two outs but the bobblehead honoree struck out swinging at a high fastball to snuff the rally. Braun, though, would make it up in the fifth. He came to the plate with the bases loaded and ripped a double to left field that cleared the bags and brought the home team within a run at 4-3. The Pirates edged further ahead in the top of the sixth, adding a run on Starling Marte’s sac fly to make it 5-3. The Brewers had another golden opportunity to score in the seventh with men at first and third, and Braun coming to bat with two outs. Unfortunately for them, Braun’s sharp grounder up the middle was right in the tracks of Pirate’s second baseman Neil Walker, who threw him out to end the inning. The home team, however, cut the lead to 5-4 in the eighth thanks to a sac fly by Gomez that brought home Jeff Bianchi who had tripled ahead of him. The Brewers made a desperate bid to come back in the bottom of the ninth, but made a couple of loud fly ball outs as Pittsburgh held on to win. What a game! Although we did not see any home runs, we saw a couple of exciting triples and five doubles. And we saw each team make an error and turn a double play. Marte also stole a base for the Pirates.
As usual we walked around the ballpark during the middle innings and took plenty of pictures. The history of the Brewers and the Milwaukee Braves was chronicled nicely in the concourses by way of statues, murals, giant banners, and other memorabilia. The atmosphere in the ballpark, too, was electric with nearly 45,000 fans at hand on this Memorial Day weekend. The stadium looked jam-packed. It was cool to see the fans come out and support the home team not withstanding the W-L record that has the Brewers down in the NL Central cellar.
After the game, we took the shuttle back to the restaurant, picked up our car, and got on the road again to our last destination on this leg. Bet you can’t guess our next stop (unless we already told you), but we will see you from there soon. So long!
