Brewers-Pirates - Series Recap

The Pirates took two of three from the Brewers in this series as the Crew's troubles at PNC Park continued.

Monday - Pirates win 9-0: Brewers starter Carlos Villanueva pitched a solid five innings for the Crew. He gave up just two runs in his outing. But the Brewers did not give Villnueva any run support and the bullpen gave up seven more runs. The Pirates took the lead in the fifth when Nate McLouth hit a two-run homer. Two more runs scored in the sixth inning when Rickie Weeks errant throw got past Prince Fielder. If Weeks' throw was on target, the inning would have ended with no runs scoring.

The Brewers gave up four runs in the seventh inning and one more run in the eighth. McLouth and Adam LaRoche each went 3-5 for the Pirates. Jose Bautista, Steve Pearce and Ronny Paulino each had two hits. Tony Armas pitched six scoreless innings to pick up the win for the Pirates. He gave up just three hits, struck out three and walked none.

Tuesday - Brewers win 6-1: Yovani Gallardo pitched six scoreless innings for the Brewers to pick up his eighth win of the year in the bigs. Gallardo pitched out of a couple jams to keep the Pirates off the board. He gave up six hits and walked three but stranded eight runners and got a double play. Gallardo struck out seven and improved his ERA to 3.99.

The Brewers took the lead in the fourth inning when Prince Fielder hit his 44th home run of the season, one short of tying the franchise record. Gabe Gross doubled home Weeks in the sixth inning to make the score 2-0 Brewers. The next batter, Ryan Braun singled in Gross to add to the Brewers lead. That single chased Pirates starter Brian Bullington from the game. Bullington ended up pitching five innings while giving up seven hits and three runs in his second career start. John Grabow replaced Bullington and got Fielder to hit into a double play. However, Corey Hart then hit a solo homer to give the Crew at 4-0 lead. Braun then gave the Brewers two more insurance runs in the seventh with a two-run single that scored J.J. Hardy and Weeks who went 3-4 with two runs scored.

Wednesday - Pirates win 7-4: Brewers starter Dave Bush only last four innings and gave up four runs. The Pirates led 4-0 after three innings but the Brewers would battle back. The Brewers picked up single tallies in the fourth and fifth to cut the Pirates lead in half. The Brewers tied the game in the eighth inning when Fielder (groundout that scored Hardy) and Hart (triple that scored Braun) each picked up RBI. However, the Brewers were unable to drive in Hart from third base with just one out. Craig Counsell was the next batter and he walked. Bill Hall then struck out and Damian Miller was hit by a pitch. Geoff Jenkins grounded out to the end the inning. John Grabow got the win for getting that out.

Derrick Turnbow started the bottom of the eighth inning with a strikeout of LaRoche. He then walked the next two batters. Ronny Paulino came up next and singled home Cesar Izturis to give the Pirates the lead for good. Josh Phelps then tripled home Steve Pearce and Paulino to give the Pirates a three-run lead. Tom Gorzelanny started the game for the Pirates and pitched six and a third innings and gave up three runs. Matt Capps pitched the ninth to pick up the save. Miller had two hits including a homer for the Brewers.