Brewers shut out Pirates, 10-0
MILWAUKEE (AP) – J.J. Hardy, Prince Fielder and Johnny Estrada all homered and Claudio Vargas gave up four singles in six innings to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 10-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night. Hardy had four hits to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, and drove in three runs. Fielder had four RBIs and Rickie Weeks had three hits and scored three runs.
Vargas (3-0) walked three and struck out four to win for the third time in four starts.
Paul Maholm (1-4) gave up three runs and seven hits in 3 2-3 innings, with three walks and five strikeouts. He was in trouble each inning, but limited damage by holding Milwaukee to 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Hardy hit a solo home run, his seventh, to lead off the third, had three singles and scored two runs. He is batting .328 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs a year after being limited to 35 games due to an ankle injury that required surgery.
Fielder drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth and hit a three-run home run in the sixth, and Estrada had an RBI single in the first and a solo homer to lead off the fifth.
The outing by Vargas, the Brewers’ fifth starter, was another indicator of Milwaukee’s strong starting pitching. The right-hander, acquired in a trade with Arizona during the offseason, lowered his ERA to 2.89, and was removed after throwing 98 pitches.
Brewers’ starters are 11-2 with a 3.06 ERA in the team’s last 18 games.
Milwaukee scored single runs in four of the first five innings, and three in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Fielder’s bases-loaded walk made it 3-0 in the fourth, chasing Maholm. The Brewers broke the game open in the sixth when Weeks and Hardy reached on one-out singles and Fielder’s homer made it 7-0.
Marty McLeary, making his season debut after being recalled Thursday from Triple-A Indianapolis, gave up four runs on four hits in 2 1-3 innings for the Pirates.
NOTES: Maholm’s only victory was a three-hit shutout of Houston on April 24. In his other five starts, he is 0-4 with a 7.61 ERA. … Vargas doubled in the second inning, giving the Brewers at least one double in each of their 29 games. … The attendance was 40,190 and a fan in Section 218 of Miller Park’s second deck caught two foul balls, both barehanded. … The Brewers traded C JD Closser to Oakland for outfielder Charles Thomas. Closser was playing at Triple-A Nashville while Thomas was at Triple-A Sacramento. Thomas was assigned to Nashville.