Karstens, Pirates shut down Milwaukee

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Jeff Karstens pitched seven-plus innings before leaving with an injury and the Pittsburgh Pirates snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night.

Karstens (5-3) gave up seven hits, did not walk a batter and struck out four for his first win in nine career starts against Milwaukee.

Karstens also had an RBI single and scored during Pittsburgh’s four-run fifth inning, but left with an injured right groin after the first two Brewers singled in the eighth.

There was no immediate word on the severity of Karstens’ injury.

Pedro Alvarez had two hits for the Pirates, who are one game behind St. Louis for the second wild-card spot.

Shaun Marcum (5-4) did not allow an earned run in his first start since June 14 but took the loss due to two errors in the Pirates’ fifth.

Aramis Ramirez had three hits for the Brewers, who had won four in a row.

Earlier this season, Karstens spent more than two months on the disabled list due to hip and shoulder issues. He improved to 5-2 with a 3.29 ERA in 11 starts since he came off the DL.

No Brewers baserunner advanced past second base while Karstens was in the game. He appeared to be in pain Nyjer Morgan’s infield single put runners on first and second with no outs in the eighth.

Tony Watson came on and got Norichika Aoki to ground into a forceout, and Jason Grilli struck out Rickie Weeks and got Ryan Braun to bounce out.

Closer Joel Hanrahan worked the ninth in a non-save situation, loading the bases before striking out Morgan to close out the Pirates’ seventh shutout.

Pittsburgh broke loose in the fifth after errors by center fielder Carlos Gomez and shortstop Jeff Bianchi.