MILWAUKEE -- With the way both teams were pitching Wednesday night, one big hit seemed like it would decide the outcome of the game.
In the end it was not one decisive blow but four consecutive hits off closer Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth inning that broke open a pitcher's duel and sent the Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-1 loss at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Miller Park.
Singles to start the ninth by Ike Davis, Jordy Mercer and Chris Stewart broke a 1-all tie, while Starling Marte made it 4-1 with a two-run double over the head of Elian Herrera in center field.
After allowing his first run of the season Sunday, Rodriguez had his first outing of the season in which he was hit hard throughout an inning.
"I think I got two base hits on the fastball and two on the changeup," Rodriguez said. "I left them out over the plate. When you miss your location, that's what's going to happen. They make you pay."
This was the fifth non-save situation of the season in which Rodriguez has pitched, but he entered having allowed just three hits and no runs in four innings when a save wasn't on the line.
Sometimes closers struggle when pitching in non-save situations, but Rodriguez appeared to just be off with the command of his changeup Wednesday.
"The changeup is such a feel pitch that you can't guide it," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "You try to get it down and you start aiming it. So it's a matter of when you're confident with it, you just throw it and you've got great arm speed and it's hard to pick it up."
It was clear from the early going that a pitcher's duel was about to break out, as Wily Peralta and Francisco Liriano had their good stuff. Despite entering without a win and a 4.64 ERA, Liriano is tough to solve when he commands his slider and changeup the way he did Wednesday.
Peralta continued his early season dominance, allowing just one run over seven innings for his seventh consecutive quality start. The only blemish on his line came in the fourth inning, as a leadoff walk issued to Andrew McCutchen came back to bite the right-hander.
Pedro Alvarez followed the walk with a seeing-eye single to send McCutchen to third, while Jose Tabata drove the Pirates center fielder home on a fielder's choice groundout.
"When you face those kind of pitchers, you know it is going to be a close game," said Peralta, who lowered his ERA to 2.05. "You just have to battle out there and keep it as close as you can."
The Brewers couldn't put much together offensively against Liriano and only scored on a sacrifice fly from Jeff Bianchi in the fifth inning.
"He was on top of his game tonight," Peralta said. "He had really good command of his pitches and threw great changeups."
When the Brewers did get runners on Wednesday, a double play followed. Mark Reynolds hit into a twin killing with two on and one out in the fourth, while Ryan Braun erased a leadoff walk in the eighth inning.
"It looked like it was going to be one of those games where when you get that one opportunity, you need to capitalize on it, and we didn't do that," Roenicke said. "We got the sac fly with Bianchi, who did a nice job of battling, but the double plays -- you think you've got something going and bam, you're out of the inning."
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