Brewers end skid, jolt Bucs behind Parra, HRs

Manny Parra’s pitching and Mike Cameron’s and Corey Hart’s homers led a 7-2 win.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Manny Parra pitched 52‚Ñ3 scoreless innings, and Mike Cameron and Corey Hart homered to help the Milwaukee Brewers snap a five-game losing streak with a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

Parra (2-2) won for the first time since beating San Francisco on April 5, his first start of the season. The 25-year-old left-hander allowed only four hits and a walk, and struck out six.

Cameron, who entered the game in a 7-for-46 slump, had three hits and a walk. His two-run home run into the left-fielder corner in the seventh, his fifth of the season, gave Milwaukee a 4-0 lead and chased Pirates starter Paul Maholm (2-5).

Hart’s third homer, a solo shot, came in the ninth.

Ryan Braun had two hits and an RBI, and Bill Hall reached base four times and drove in a run for Milwaukee, which had 14 hits and snapped a nine-game road losing streak.

It was a rare win for the Brewers, who improved to 21-42 in seven-plus seasons at PNC Park.

Parra needed 116 pitches to finish his outing, but Pittsburgh could do little to take advantage. Freddy Sanchez doubled to lead off the sixth, but was stranded at third. The Pirates put two runners on base in the fourth, when Jason Bay walked and Xavier Nady singled with two outs. But Adam LaRoche struck out to end the inning.

Bay hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning, his 10th of the season. Nady had two singles after going 2-for-21 during Pittsburgh’s recent road trip.

Maholm lost at home for the first time since last July 31. The left-hander allowed four runs and nine hits and hit two batters in six-plus innings. He walked two and struck out five.

The Brewers, who put a runner on base in every inning, needed a defensive lapse by Pittsburgh second baseman Sanchez to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

With the bases loaded and one out, Jason Kendall hit a ground ball to third baseman Jose Bautista that appeared to be a double play. But after taking the throw at second, Sanchez took a couple of steps toward the Pittsburgh dugout, apparently thinking the inning had ended. This allowed Kendall to reach safely and Hart to score.

Notes

Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said that starters Jeff Suppan and Dave Bush will trade their upcoming turns in the rotation. Bush will move up one day and start Thursday against Pittsburgh, and Suppan will pitch Friday in a series opener at Washington. ... Cameron also had trouble keeping track of the outs. Cameron was doubled off second base by Nady to end the third when he lingered on the basepaths after Prince Fielder flied out. ... Braun is hitting .404 (19-for-47) in his past 11 games.