Brewers end Correia’s magic

Associated Press

MILWAUKEE

Kevin Correia’s road dominance ended quickly.

Correia, perfect in five road starts this season, surrendered four runs in the first 12 pitches and six overall in a 9-6 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.

“I’ve had a few starts with only one bad inning with only one bad pitch, but today was the first day that I didn’t feel like I could do what I wanted to do,” Correia said. “I felt so good the first nine starts, but today was the first day that I couldn’t get the ball where I wanted to get it.”

Correia (5-4) struggled in his attempt to become the first Pirates pitcher to win six games by mid-May since 1991, when Neal Heaton started 6-0 and Doug Drabek was 6-1.

Correia came in 5-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five road starts this season, but there weren’t many signs of his road success in this outing.

Ryan Braun hit his NL-leading 12th homer, tripled and drove in four runs for Milwaukee, helping a shaky Zack Greinke get the win and complete the three-game sweep.

Casey McGehee and Jonathan Lucroy also homered as the Brewers beat Pittsburgh for the ninth straight time at Miller Park. The Pirates have lost five in a row overall.

Greinke (2-1) made his third start for the Brewers after missing more than a month because of a broken rib. He was flawless for the first four innings. He gave up five runs in the fifth as the Pirates pulled to 6-5, and left after the inning.

“On a different day where they don’t open it like they did, it is a completely different ball game,” Pirates catcher Chris Snyder said.

The Brewers scored four runs in the first 12 pitches of the game, as Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez singled and Braun followed with his home run.

Two batters later, Casey McGehee hit a deep, high fly. The ball just cleared the 400-foot sign and Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen lost his glove over the wall while leaping trying to catch it. A Brewers employee retrieved McCutchen’s glove from behind the wall and flipped it back to him.

“You have to be careful against them,” Correia said. “Most teams, you can pitch to a big part of the park and you are not going to give up a lot of home runs. But against a guy like Braun in the first, he can go to the opposite field.”