Pirates win 8th straight on road, sweep Brewers 3-1

After being hot at home, the Brewers are staring at a sweep if they lose Sunday’s game. Villar, whom the Brewers acquired from Houston in November for pitching prospect Cy Sneed, has stolen the second-most bases in the league (50) and hit.297/.378/.434 with 10 home runs in 546 trips to the plate.

“It’d be pretty silly for the manager to push him out there for one more inning and he blows his hamstring”, Hurdle said.

Hernan Perez homered twice for Milwaukee, with a three-run homer during a four-run first, and a solo shot leading off the third that put the Brewers ahead 5-1.

Brewers right-hander Chase Anderson piloted through the lineup for five innings, getting two outs with the bases loaded in the fourth, before he was dented. “It was a quiet day offensively, for sure”.

Pittsburgh entered the series 17-64 in Milwaukee since 2007, and exited on a wave of momentum. Starling Marte added a solo shot in the eighth.

“The command was there for me today for the most part, just got away from me in the sixth inning”, Anderson said.

“Bad execution on that pitch and the one to Jaso, too”, Anderson said. “It’s tough to face those guys”.

Julio Urias allowed one run over six innings, Corey Seager set a Dodgers franchise record for a shortstop with his 23rd home run and Los Angeles beat the Chicago Cubs 3-2 on Saturday to even the series between NL division leaders at Los Angeles.

The inning started with two errors by Milwaukee third baseman Jonathan Villar, who bobbled a bouncer by Andrew McCutchen.

“I’m still a slap hitter”, Marte said. “It was my first time experiencing something like that. I made a decision to tell the manager”.

The Pirates are heating up at the right time as they look to close the gap on the rest of the pack in the National League wild card race and after pasting the Brewers last night they have improved to 7-0 in their last seven road games and will be out for more here with Ivan Nova on the hill. “We were very pleased with that effort”. LHP Steven Brault will be called up from Triple-A Indianapolis Monday and take Cole’s spot against the Cubs Monday with RHP Chad Kuhl (3-1, 3.50 ERA) and RHP Ryan Vogelsong (3-3, 3.02) following on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. RHP Junior Guerra, on the disabled list with right elbow inflammation, pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings in rehab start for Triple-A Colorado Springs Saturday at Oklahoma City.

Taillon has been the model of consistency in his rookie campaign, tossing eight straight quality starts and going at least six innings in 10 of his 12 outings. The Pirates will provide Nova with treatment over the next few days with the hope of alleviating the pain he’s experiencing with the hamstring, but as of now, there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to make his next start.