Rookie starting pitcher Jacob Misiorowski was stellar through five innings for the Milwaukee Brewers in a 4-2 win in the rubber match of a three-game series against the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.
Misiorowski (3-0) struck out a career-high eight in his third major-league start and held Pittsburgh to just two hits, both singles. Reliever Trevor Megill threw a perfect ninth for the save.
Milwaukee has won six of its past seven games.
Starter Paul Skenes (4-7) allowed four runs on four hits and fanned four in four innings for the Pirates, who have lost four of six.
The Brewers went through all nine batters as they built a 4-0 lead in the second inning. After Isaac Collins drew a leadoff walk, Brice Turang and Caleb Durbin each followed with a single to center field to load the bases with nobody out.
Collins then scored on Joey Ortiz’s groundout along the first-base line to give Milwaukee a 1-0 lead, and Eric Haase doubled to bring in Turang to make it 2-0.
Sal Frelick connected on a splitter that went to Pirates second baseman Nick Gonzales, but an overthrow to catcher Henry Davis at the plate allowed Durbin to come around and push it to 3-0. Christian Yelich increased the lead to four runs with a single to left field that brought in Haase.
It snapped a stretch of nine straight starts in which Skenes had allowed two runs or fewer.
Skenes settled down after that, getting the Brewers out in order in each of the next two innings before he was lifted.
Pittsburgh broke the shutout in the seventh off reliever Grant Anderson. With one out, Oneil Cruz sent a sinker to left field, and a fielding error by Collins allowed him to get to second on the play. Tommy Pham then drove him in with a single to cut it to 4-1.
The Pirates narrowed it to 4-2 in the eighth. Adam Frazier drew a one-out walk, and Spencer Horwitz drove him in with a double to right field.
–Field Level Media
