Brewers 7, Pirates 3
Crew improves to 18 games over .500
The offense takes care of business as Milwaukee continues to handle last-place Pittsburgh,
PITTSBURGH – The Milwaukee Brewers continued to do Wednesday night what first-place teams are supposed to do.
They once again beat the last-place team in their division.
The Brewers kept offensive pressure on Pittsburgh's pitchers throughout the game to make off with a 7-3 victory at PNC Park, their second consecutive victory in the series and ninth in 12 games against the Pirates this season.
The victory boosted the Brewers to 60-42 for the season, matching their high-water mark above .500. They also were 18 games over on July 3 after an 11-2 victory over the Pirates here.
In another of those tandem deals to protect pitchers' arms for the 162-game season, manager Craig Counsell planned for right-hander Adrian Houser to start and lefty Eric Lauer to follow him.
Houser certainly did his part, pitching five shutout innings while allowing only two hits and one walk, with a pair of strikeouts.
Right-hander Max Kranick, called up from the minors earlier in the day, started for the Pirates and quickly found himself in trouble. Kolten Wong led off the game with a single to right-center and Willy Adames followed with another hit.
Omar Narváez also hit the ball right on the screws but lined out to first baseman John Nogowski, who doubled Adames off first base.
But AvisaIl García laced a single to center to score Wong and give the Brewers a quick 1-0 lead.
Houser also found first-inning trouble when former teammate Ben Gamel opened with a walk and Ke'Bryan Hayes punched a hit through the right side. But Houser shut that down by getting Bryan Reynolds to fly out to center, Gregory Polanco to pop out to third and Nogowski to fly out to left.
The Brewers were back at it in the fourth when Narváez led off with a double to right and García singled to left, putting runners on the corners. Rowdy Tellez struck out and Tyrone Taylor hit a liner right at third baseman Hayes but Lorenzo Cain cashed in both runners with a double to right-center to make it 3-0.
Kranick faced four batters in the sixth inning and retired none of them. Tellez singled to right, Taylor singled to left and Cain was drilled in the ribs with a fastball – and didn't like it – to load the bases.
When Luis Urías laced a double into the left-field corner, the Brewers had a five-run lead and that was all for Kranick.
Chasen Shreve took over and struck out Jackie Bradley Jr., batting for Houser, but Wong delivered a sacrifice fly to right to boost the Brewers' lead to 6-0.
Lauer took over in the bottom of the inning and soon found himself in a huge mess.
With one down, Hayes walked, Reynolds doubled to left and Polanco drew a walk to load the bases.
Instead of buckling and allowing the Pirates back into the game, Lauer struck out Nogowski looking, getting a generous strike zone from umpire James Hoye, and retiring Jacob Stallings on a pop fly to second.
The Brewers padded their lead to 7-0 with another run in the seventh. García singled with one down, Tellez drew a walk from Shreve and Taylor punched an RBI single to right to account for that tally.
Pittsburgh finally got on the board in the seventh with one mighty swing of the bat.
Rodolfo Castro led off with a 437foot homer to the deepest part of the park in left-center, giving him four hits for the season – all home runs.
And Castro wasn't done. He made it five home runs with a two-run shot in the ninth off Brewers closer Josh Hader, pitching merely to get work. Hader had gone 10 days without pitching in a game.
RECORD
Overall: 60-42 Home: 29-24 Away: 31-18
COMING UP
Thursday: Brewers at Pirates, 6:05 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Freddy Peralta (7-3, 2.29) vs. Pittsburgh RHP Chad Kuhl (3-5, 4.38). TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.