Pittsburgh Pirates blank Milwaukee Brewers, 7-0
Brault and four relievers combined on a three-hitter to lift the Pirates to a 7-0 victory over Milwaukee on Monday night.
Milwaukee didn’t get a runner past first base against the Pirates and fell 2 1/2 games behind Chicago in the NL Central after outscoring the Cubs 20-3 in a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field over the weekend.
“There was not much good that happened,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. “It was a frustrating day. There was never any point where we got anything good started.”
Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte and Jordy Mercer homered for Pittsburgh, which staggered into the game with a five-game losing streak.
Brault (1-0), making his second start of the season, used his fastball to keep the Brewers off-balance, only allowing a fourth-inning walk to Ryan Braun and a fifth-inning leadoff single to Jesus Aguilar. He struck out six in six innings for his first win in the majors. Brault also helped at the plate, going 2 for 3 with a double and a bases loaded, two-RBI single in the sixth to give Pittsburgh a 6-0 lead.
Milwaukee rookie Brandon Woodruff (1-2) allowed six runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings.