Brewers batter Locke, Pirates
PITTSBURGH -- Jonathan Lucroy drove in three runs, Jonathan Villar got the Milwaukee offense going by reaching base four straight times and the Brewers roughed up Pittsburgh Pirates starter Jeff Locke during a 9-5 victory Wednesday night.
Villar, the Brewers' leadoff hitter, had two singles, a pair of walks, a run scored, a stolen base and an RBI to lead an offense that scored in five different innings.
Scooter Gennett and Chris Carter added a pair of RBIs each as the Nos. 3-6 batters for Milwaukee -- Ryan Braun, Lucroy, Carter and Gennett -- combined for five hits, five runs scored and seven RBIs.
Locke (8-6) absorbed much of the damage, giving up five runs and seven hits and walking five over three-plus innings before Milwaukee added four more runs against Pittsburgh's bullpen.
With the Brewers already up 5-4, they scored three times in the sixth against relievers A.J. Schugel and Arquimedes Caminero on walks to Villar and Braun, Hernan Perez's single, Lucroy's two-run single to left field and Carter's sacrifice fly.
They put up another run in the eighth on Braun's one-out triple off Juan Nicasio and Lucroy's sacrifice fly.
Brewers starter Chase Anderson lasted only four innings before five relievers finished up with an inning apiece. Carlos Torres (2-1) got the win despite allowing a run in the fifth.
Brewers starter Chase Anderson, now winless in his past six starts, aided himself offensively by delivering the key hit of a two-run second inning -- a single that drove in a run and set up Jonathan Villar's RBI single -- and walking to start the fourth inning.
But he labored again on the mound, lasting only four innings and failing to figure in the decision despite leaving with a 5-3 lead. Anderson is averaging only five innings per start in his 18 starts, and he didn't reach even that Tuesday.
And while he helped himself take that 2-0 lead with a solid hit to right field, which following a flick-of-the-wrist double by Chris Carter that missed by a foot of being a homer and a walk, he gave the lead back in the bottom of the second.
The Pirates started the three-run inning with four consecutive hits, including doubles by Francisco Cervelli and Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer's two-run single to center.
The Brewers immediately took the lead back at 4-3 in the third against left-hander Jeff Locke on Scooter Gennett's two-run double, which followed Ryan Braun's leadoff single and Jonathan Lucroy's walk.
Locke was lifted after loading the bases in the fourth on a pair of walks around Villar's single. Reliever Jared Hughes came on to retire the first two batters he faced, but Carter walked with the bases loaded -- one of six walks the Brewers drew in the first five innings -- to make it 5-3.
With Anderson out of the game, the Pirates got a run back in the fifth against reliever Carlos Torres on David Freese's one-out RBI double.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was ejected three batters into the game for arguing Braun was struck by a batted ball in fair territory. Braun subsequently grounded into a double play.
NOTES: Beginning with Wednesday's game against the Brewers, 38 of the Pirates' final 69 games are against teams that currently have losing records. ... Pirates RHP Ryan Vogelsong gave up two runs and four hits, including a homer, in four innings Wednesday during a rehabilitation start at Triple-A Indianapolis. Vogelsong hasn't pitched in the majors since being hit in the head with a pitch May 23. ... The Brewers' Hernan Perez acknowledged being scared about hitting Pirates RHP Jameson Taillon in the back of the head with a 107-mph line drive during the second inning Tuesday. Taillon stayed in the game, but is being checked regularly by the Pirates' medical staff under MLB's concussion protocol. ... With a succession of 90-degree days upcoming in Pittsburgh, the Pirates' relievers shaved their heads. ... Two Brewers coaches, Lee Tunnell and Darnell Coles, played for the Pirates during the 1980s.