Bell leads Pirates over Brewers

Associated Press

Pittsburgh

Josh Bell finished off his historic May with two more hits, Starling Marte added three hits and scored three times and the Pittsburgh Pirates pounced on struggling Milwaukee starter Jhoulys Chacin in a 9-4 victory Friday night.

Bell went 2 for 5 and drove in a run in front of a crowd that included fans in the right-field seats wearing “Bellieve” T-shirts as part of a promotion that doubled as an All-Star Game push for the 26-year-old first baseman. Bell’s two singles gave him 94 total bases in May, the most by any player in any month in the franchise’s 138-year history. Bell hit .389 in May with 12 home runs, 12 doubles and 31 RBIs.

Kevin Newman extended his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games with a pair of hits, including a two-run single off reliever Freddy Peralta in the third to cap a six-run outburst that put the Pirates firmly in control.

Chris Archer (2-5) gave up early home runs to Jesus Aguilar and Keston Hiura, but settled down to work seven innings and pick up his first victory since April 7. Archer struck out seven and walked two as the injury-ravaged Pirates won for only the third time in their last 11 games.

The 11-year-veteran walked four batters in the frame, three of them with the bases loaded, including a five-pitch walk to Archer that pushed Pittsburgh’s lead to 5-1. Peralta replaced Chacin and Newman delivered a liner to left field that allowed Colin Moran and Adam Frazier to score and push Pittsburgh’s advantage to 7-1.

Chacin (3-7) was charged with seven runs in 2 2/3 innings, with two strikeouts. His four walks marked a season high and he threw just 40 of his 76 pitches for strikes.

UP NEXT

Brewers: Brandon Woodruff (7-1, 3.22 ERA) will look for his seventh straight win on Saturday. He limited the Phillies to one run in eight innings last Sunday.

Pirates: Nick Kingham (1-1, 8.28) hasn’t won a game as a starter since last July, but will get the nod on Saturday.