McCutchen homers again, Pirates edge Brewers
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Josh Harrison crossed the plate with the go- ahead run on a passed ball in the top of the seventh inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates held on for a 6-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in the middle tilt of a three-game series at Miller Park.
Andrew McCutchen, who leads the majors with a .366 batting average, smoked a two-run home run, his third straight game with a round-tripper. Former Brewer Casey McGehee ripped a solo shot and added an RBI single for the Pirates, who have won seven of their last nine contests to stay tied with Cincinnati atop the NL Central. Neil Walker and Garrett Jones contributed two hits apiece in the victory.
"Even when we're down early, it seems we're waiting for something good to happen," McGehee said. "We're all human. I didn't have a great game last night, but today was a new day. This team does a good job of bouncing back."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kevin Correia (6-6) went six strong innings to win his fourth straight decision to tie a career-best. He allowed four runs -- two earned -- on four hits and a walk with six strikeouts. Jason Grilli pitched through trouble in the eighth and Joel Hanrahan worked around a walk in the ninth to pick up his 24th save of the season.
Corey Hart knocked in a pair of runs for the Brewers, who had won three of their last four games entering play on Saturday. Kameron Loe (4-3) took the loss after allowing two runs -- one earned -- on two hits in two-thirds of an inning.
Trailing, 4-3, heading into the seventh, the Pirates took the lead for good with a pair of runs. Clint Barmes started the frame with a single and came around to score the tying run when Harrison reached base on a throwing error by Loe. Walker singled to put runners on the corners and with McCutchen at the plate, a changeup from Loe hit off the glove of Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado and skipped to the backstop, allowing Harrison to score.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}McGehee came back to haunt his old team again in the eighth when he got a fastball up from Tyler Thornburg and deposited it into the stands in left-center.
In the ninth, Hanrahan got Cesar Izturis to ground out before walking Nyjer Morgan. The Bucs closer stayed poised and got Norichika Aoki to pop out, and then struck out Travis Ishikawa to end the game with Ryan Braun lurking in the on-deck circle.
Earlier, Milwaukee struck first with two runs in the second inning. Aramis Ramirez began the frame with a double down the line in left and scored easily on a triple by Hart for the first run of the game. Hart then scored on a groundout by Rickie Weeks to make it 2-0.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pittsburgh got even in its next at-bat when McCutchen followed a Walker base on balls by smashing a fastball from Brewers starter Marco Estrada over the wall in straightaway center field to tie the game at two.
"He threw the ball real well," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "He located his fastball well and his breaking ball and changeup. It was a tough loss. They're a good team, but we can't play poorly defensively."
Aoki began the Brewers' half of the third with a single and Braun walked two batters later. Ramirez reached on an error by Alvarez, which allowed Aoki to score and Hart lofted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Braun to give Milwaukee a 4-2 advantage.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Walker started the Pirates' sixth with a base hit and Jones slapped a single back through the box two batters later. McGehee followed and drove home Walker with a single to center, cutting the deficit to 4-3.
Game Notes
Walker extended his hitting streak to 14 games. It is the longest such streak by a Pirate this season...Estrada fanned 11 over 5 2/3 innings and walked only one. He allowed three runs on six hits in the no- decision...Milwaukee fell to 23-22 at home this season...Pittsburgh went 1- for-8 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base...Milwaukee finished 1-for-10 with men in scoring position and stranded seven.