Brewers hand Pirates eighth straight defeat
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ryan Braun hit a three-run home run, and the Milwaukee Brewers handed the Pittsburgh Pirates their eighth straight loss with a 3-1 win Friday night.
Dave Bush (9-9) allowed one run in 6 2-3 innings for Milwaukee, which began the day with a 31‚Ñ2-game lead over St. Louis in the NL wild-card race.
Salomon Torres picked up his 26th save for the Brewers, who have won six of seven games and improved to 9-1 against Pittsburgh this season.
Nate McLouth homered and had two hits for the Pirates, who have lost 12 of 14 games.
Braun’s 34th home run of the season came in the first inning against Tom Gorzelanny (6-9). Rickie Weeks singled and J.J. Hardy walked in front of the Milwaukee left fielder.
Braun, who finished 2-for-4, is 8-for-17 with three home runs and nine RBIs in his career against the Pirates left-hander.
Gorzelanny, who retired 21 of 24 batters after Braun’s home run, allowed three runs and four hits in seven innings. He’s now lost his past three starts, all to Milwaukee.
Bush, who won for the first time in five career starts at PNC Park, allowed six hits, but had to work out of some trouble in the early innings.
Pittsburgh put two runners on base in the second, loaded the bases in the third thanks to a pair of Milwaukee errors and put two more on in the fourth, but failed to score a run. The Pirates stranded 11 runners.
McLouth hit his 23rd home run of the season, and first since July 28, in the fifth to make it 3-1. The Pirates center fielder also walked in the third and singled in the seventh.
Freddy Sanchez also had two hits for the Pirates.