Hiura, Brewers aim to keep dominance of Bucs rolling

Since the beginning of last season, Keston Hiura and the Milwaukee Brewers have bullied Pittsburgh.

Milwaukee has gone 17-5 against the Pirates in that span, racking up 5+ runs in 13 contests and 8+ runs seven different times.

The Brewers have smacked 41 homers in those 22 games, compared to just 20 for the Pirates. That’s the third-largest dinger differential in the big leagues behind the New York Yankees (+38 over Baltimore) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (+25 over San Francisco).

In 19 career games against Pittsburgh, Hiura has logged a .301/.381/.658 slash line with two doubles, eight homers and 18 RBI. Hiura hasn’t hit more than five moonshots against any other team. His 18 RBI is the second-highest tally for any player against Pittsburgh dating back to last season, trailing only St. Louis first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (24).

Back in the initial 2020 three-game series between these teams in July, Hiura went 5-for-11 with five RBI as the Brewers took two of three games.

Hiura isn’t the only Brewers player to consistently mash against Pittsburgh.

Ryan Braun has smacked 31 career long balls against the Pirates, second among active players behind Albert Pujols (50).

Milwaukee’s offense hopes its recent success vs. the Pirates continues against Friday’s starting pitcher Chad Kuhl, who’s compiled some surprising career numbers when facing the Crew.

In seven outings against the Brewers, Kuhl has posted a 3-0 record, 1.72 ERA and 0.49 HR/9. Those numbers are much stronger in comparison to Kuhl’s receipts against every other team combined — 15-21, 4.65 ERA and 1.21 HR/9.

Shiver me timbers.

Tune in to FOX Sports Wisconsin at 5:30 p.m. for a series opener edition of “Brewers Live.”

Statistics courtesy Sportradar, baseball-reference.com