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Bucs blanked by Brewers

PITTSBURGH — Given a choice, Josh Harrison is always going to choose to be aggressive. Always.

So when the pickoff throw whizzed by Harrison as he stood on first base in the eighth inning with the Pittsburgh Pirates trailing by a run on Friday night, Harrison took off. When he rounded second, he caught third-base coach Rick Sofield’s eye. They both had the same idea: get to third as quickly as possible.

So Harrison kept right on going.

One problem. The ball got there first courtesy of a perfect strike from first baseman Hernan Perez to Jonathan Villar. And just like that, the threat was over. Soon after so was the game as the Pirates began a pivotal 10-game homestand with a 1-0 loss.

“In a split second, in the thick of things it looked like I was going to be safe, next thing I wasn’t,” Harrison said. “Nothing you can really do. If I stop at second and the ball doesn’t kick back to him, I could have been at third.”

Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle defended the decision, pointing to the number of times Harrison’s hustle has paid off for the Pirates throughout his career.

“They made a major league throw,” Hurdle said.

One that helped send the Pirates to a fourth straight loss. Pittsburgh remained 2¢ games behind St. Louis for the second wild card spot in the National league when it mustered just seven hits off seven Milwaukee pitchers and failed to get a runner safely to third. Harrison’s mad scramble is as close as the Pirates came to getting within 90 feet of home.

“Knowing I was the tying run, especially in the eighth inning definitely stung a little bit,” Harrison said.

Andrew McCutchen went 3 for 4 but Pittsburgh left eight men on base and went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position.

UP NEXT:

Ivan Nova will try to keep his Pittsburgh renaissance going when he makes his sixth start with the Pirates since being acquired at the trade deadline from the Yankees. Nova is 4-0 with a 2.87 ERA since the coming to Pittsburgh, including a 3-1 win over Milwaukee in his last start. Milwaukee’s Jimmy Nelson is still searching for the form he had in April and May. The right-hander is 2-10 with a 5.87 ERA in his last 16 starts dating to June 3.

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