Oneil Cruz went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs to help the Pittsburgh Pirates snap their six-game losing streak with a 4-2 win against the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on Monday.
Pirates starter Jared Jones (2-2) allowed one run on four hits in six innings. He recorded seven strikeouts and two walks.
Right-hander Joe Ross (1-2) gave up two runs (one earned) on six hits in 5 1/3 innings for the Brewers, whose four-game winning streak ended. Ross walked one and fanned four.
Andrew McCutchen led off the bottom of the first with his second homer of the season to put Pittsburgh up 1-0.
Milwaukee struggled to generate any offense against Jones, going down in order in each of the first two innings. Joey Ortiz provided the Brewers with their first hit, a two-out single in the third.
Jones started to struggle in the top of the fifth, and Rhys Hoskins’ home run tied things at 1. Facing a 3-1 count, Hoskins connected on a fastball for Milwaukee’s second hit of the night.
Jones then walked Blake Perkins on five pitches, but he recovered to retire Brice Turang on a lineout before striking out Jackson Chourio and getting Ortiz to ground out. By fanning Chourio, Jones became just the fourth pitcher since 1893 to strike out seven batters in each of his first five games.
The Brewers had a chance to move in front in the top of the sixth. William Contreras singled, Jake Bauers doubled and Hoskins drew a walk to load the bases with two outs, but Perkins grounded out to end the inning.
Pittsburgh then broke it open in the bottom of the sixth.
After Ke’Bryan Hayes’ base hit, Connor Joe followed with a pinch-hit single to right field. Jack Suwinski then reached on a throwing error by first baseman Bauers, driving in Hayes to put the Pirates ahead 2-1.
Suwinski moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Michael A. Taylor. That brought up Cruz, who drove in Joe and Suwinski with a single for a 4-1 lead.
Contreras scored on a Hoskins groundout in the top of the eighth to complete the scoring.
–Field Level Media
