The Pirates built their margin early and then had to defend it. Pittsburgh broke a scoreless tie with a three-run third inning and made it stand up despite a Milwaukee comeback that trimmed the deficit to one run, holding on for a 4-3 win at American Family Field.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIT | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
| MIL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
Spencer Horwitz drove in all three of Pittsburgh's third-inning runs, finishing 1-for-4 with three RBIs. He entered the night hitting .276 with 10 home runs and 36 RBIs this season. Endy Rodriguez added three hits in four at-bats, while Bryan Reynolds and Brandon Lowe each reached and scored a run apart from the big third.
Horwitz's double to right field cleared the bases in the third, with Lowe, Valdez and Reynolds all scoring to turn a scoreless game into a 3-0 lead, the go-ahead swing of the night. Pittsburgh added another run in the fourth when Jake Mangum reached on a bunt single to the pitcher and Rodriguez scored, pushing the score to 4-0.
Milwaukee chipped away late. Joey Ortiz singled home Jake Bauers in the fifth to get the Brewers on the board, and in the sixth Andrew Vaughn's single led to two more runs when Jackson Chourio and Bauers both scored on errors, the second on a throwing error by right fielder Valdez. That cut the deficit to 4-3, but the Brewers could not find another run. Brewers starter Brandon Sproat lasted three innings, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts, and took the loss to fall to 3-7 with a 5.27 ERA.
Pittsburgh starter Bubba Chandler worked 5.2 innings, allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 4 hits with 4 walks and 5 strikeouts, and improved to 4-8 with a 4.49 ERA. From there, the bullpens took over completely — Milwaukee's relievers covered 6.0 innings without allowing a run, and Pittsburgh's trio matched them with 3.1 scoreless innings, including Mason Montgomery's one-inning save with 3 strikeouts to close it out. Pittsburgh, now 57-57, snapped a two-game skid for Milwaukee, which fell to 69-43 despite sitting atop its division.