Brewers extend their dominance of Pirates

Associated Press

Milwaukee

Jonathan Lucroy homered and Ryan Braun drove in three runs, helping the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 on Friday night after an incident cleared both benches briefly in the third.

Milwaukee has dominated the series in recent years, winning for the seventh time in a row overall and the 31st time in 34 chances at Miller Park since the start of 2007.

Tempers flared and the benches and bullpens emptied after Rickie Weeks and Ronny Cedeno became entangled in a rundown, but order was restored quickly and without ejections.

Cedeno hit a two-run homer off Yovani Gallardo (4-2) in the fourth to tie the game. Gallardo broke the tie with an RBI single, and Braun added a two-run single off James McDonald in the bottom of the inning.

Gallardo pitched six solid innings before giving way to the bullpen. Marco Estrada threw a perfect seventh and eighth before John Axford picked up his eighth save in 10 tries.

It wasn’t even a certainty Braun would be in the lineup until earlier in the day after he crashed into the left field wall and bruised his left ankle Wednesday night in a 13-6 loss to San Diego.

Braun was the NL player of the month for April, but came into the game in a 6-for-39 slump in May. He showed no signs of injuries or ineffectiveness by stealing two bases, delivering a key hit and moving without problems in the field.

Gallardo drove in the go-ahead run in the fourth and Braun’s two-out single made it 5-2.

McDonald (2-3) left after the fourth. He had given up two earned runs over his previous 18 innings in three starts before facing the Brewers, who kept him from getting into a rhythm.