Brewers whip Bucs, stay on Cubs’ heels

Milwaukee has won three of four and remains 11⁄2 games behind Chicago.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Dave Bush pitched six sharp innings and Bill Hall broke out of a hitting slump with four RBIs, leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a 12-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night.

The Brewers remain 11⁄2 games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, and have won three of four after a five-game skid.

The Cubs beat the Houston Astros 4-3 earlier in the day.

Bush (11-9) gave up one run and four hits to win for only the second time in six starts.

Prince Fielder added three hits, and Corey Hart and Kevin Mench hit back-to-back home runs for the Brewers, who pounded out 15 hits against the lowly Pirates.

Shane Youman (3-5) lasted only two-plus innings.

After retiring the side in the first, he gave up five runs in the second and three in the third.

Bucs take early lead

The Pirates grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Nate McLouth led off with a walk and stole second, then scored on Freddy Sanchez’s broken bat double to the left field corner. The Pirates threatened to score again after Jason Bay walked with two outs.

With the runners moving on a 3-2 pitch, Steve Pearce — in his first major league at-bat — hit a long drive to right-center that Hall made a diving catch of at the warning track.

The Brewers broke the game open in the second, sending nine batters to the plate. After Fielder and Hart walked, Mench singled to load the bases, and Johnny Estrada and Hall each drove in a pair of runs.

J.J. Hardy drove in the final run of the inning with a two-out single.

Mench’s two-run double and Hall’s sacrifice fly in the third stretched the lead to 8-1, and Hall added an RBI single in the fifth.

Sanchez’s RBI single in the seventh inning trimmed the Brewers lead to 9-2. But Hart hit his 19th homer of the season, a two-run shot, and Mench followed with his seventh of the year to make it 12-2.