Brewers 3, Pirates 0: Casting aside their PNC Park demons for a day

PITTSBURGH - The Milwaukee Brewers made their return to PNC Park – their 2017 House of Horrors – a successful one on Monday night.

Brent Suter started and threw five scoreless innings, Ryan Braun homered and Neil Walker and Travis Shaw each added some late insurance with run-scoring singles to key a 3-0 shutout of the reeling Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Brewers entered having lost six of seven on the Pirates' home field this season, including a four-game sweep in mid-July that started the post all-star break swoon that allowed the Chicago Cubs to wrest control away in the Central Division.

But in breaking out of their doldrums here they trimmed a half-game off the Cubs' lead in the Central and the Colorado Rockies' lead for the second wild card with both teams idle and are now within 3 1/2 and two games, respectively.

"We don't have a lot of margin for error," manager Craig Counsell said. "Another win adds a little more pressure to the teams we're chasing and puts us in a good spot."

Pittsburgh, playing in front of sparse crowds of late, has dropped 11 of its last 12 games.

Suter (3-2), whose previous two starts both lasted only three innings, was economical enough in this one to get through five on 64 pitches. He scattered five singles while striking out four.

"He was really good. Really efficient. He fielded his position well; we're going to go bowling after the game in his honor with all his underhand throws," quipped Counsell, referring to the four comebackers the left-hander induced and turned into easy outs.

"The idea was, to me, to get through that lineup two times – he has that ability to be really efficient and get early swings. He did that." The start was Suter's best since July 28, when he blanked the Cubs on four hits over seven innings.

"The changeup was big-time for me tonight," he said. "I was able to throw that in any count. Stephen (Vogt) and I had a great chemistry going back there. My off-speed command, in terms of feeling on point, being able to throw any pitch in any count, that was about as good as I've felt." 

BOX SCORE:Brewers 3, Pirates 0

MLB:Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, statistics

He was staked to a 1-0 lead on a long blast to left-center in the fourth inning by Braun, his 17th of the season. It came off right-hander Jameson Taillon, traveled into the second deck and held up until the Brewers added to it in the sixth.

"I thought he flipped a little bit this weekend and started swinging the bat really well," Counsell said. "Some more good swings tonight. He's finishing strong and he's in a good place."

Jonathan Villar, pinch-hitting for Suter, led off the sixth with a double to right and came around to score on consecutive singles by Eric Sogard and Walker, the former Pirate.

Jeremy Jeffress and Josh Hader combined on the sixth and seventh and Anthony Swarzak sailed through the eighth after consecutive singles by Walker, Braun and Shaw gave Milwaukee its 3-0 advantage in the top half.

The Brewers were nursing a 2-0 lead when Elias Diaz doubled into the right-field corner off Hader with one out in the seventh. Hernán Pérez misplayed the ball initially but recovered to make a strong throw to Sogard, who in turn fired a strike to a waiting Shaw at third to easily throw out the Pirates catcher.

"Certainly, the out at third was big," Counsell said. "Then it's two outs, nobody on. Kind of a tough play in the corner for HP, then Sogard made a real nice throw. We played solid defense, I thought, tonight."

Corey Knebel struck out the first two batters he faced in the ninth. Then Gregory Polanco tried stretching a single into a double, only to be gunned down by rookie Brett Phillips to end the game after a failed Pirates challenge.

"The defense has been behind me all year," said Knebel, who's up to 36 saves. "Phillips, that guy's been unbelievable. That's what, three guys he's thrown out so far since he's been up in the big leagues? Probably more.

"It's good to have him out there."

BEHIND THE BOX SCORE

• Counsell wasn't quite ready to divulge his Wednesday starter after the game.

Jeffress made his first major-league start last Friday and went two innings in a game that saw Counsell utilize eight pitchers, but it sounds as though that won't be the approach he uses this time.

"I have an idea of who I think we’re going to use, and I think we’re going to need (more innings)," he said. "I don’t think we can just rely on our bullpen on Wednesday."

• Knebel hadn't pitched in five days coming into the series. It marked the first time he'd gone that long without seeing action since July 22-27. The longest he's gone this season without pitching was six days, in May.

"I can pitch any day, so whatever day Counsell calls upon (I'm ready)," Knebel said. "Whatever we've got to do. It's getting close. It's got its ups and downs. You never want to be the one guy not getting in there because we're not doing good.

"It's been nice; we've been scoring a lot of runs and I've been getting some good rest. Feeling good now."

STAT SHEET

• Milwaukee relievers entered Monday having posted a 0.98 ERA over the previous nine games, lowering the overall bullpen ERA from 4.13 to 3.90.

• Shaw needs four homers and eight RBI to tie the franchise's respective single-season records for a third baseman. Braun hit 34 homers in his rookie season in 2007 and Aramis Ramirez drove in 103 runs in his first season with the Brewers in 2012.

TAKEAWAY

It was a feel-good night for the Brewers, who gained a little ground on the Cubs and Rockies despite a relatively quiet night offensively. The pitching was impressive, with Suter setting the tone early in what was the staff's 11th shutout of the season.

Milwaukee had six shutouts in 2016 by comparison.

"As much as anything, it's a sign to me of how far our pitching program has moved forward," Counsell said. "A lot of credit to (pitching coach) Derek Johnson and Lee (Tunnell, bullpen coach) and the pitchers who have taken a big step forward for us and helped to put us in this position."

RECORD

This year: 80-70 (43-34 home; 37-36 away)

Last year: 68-83

NEXT GAME

Tuesday: Brewers at Pirates, 6:05 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Chase Anderson (10-3, 2.88) vs. Pittsburgh RHP Trevor Williams (6-8, 4.26). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.