Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Ryan Braun makes a running catch on a ball hit by Pittsburgh Pirates' Francisco Cervelli during the third inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015, in Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE — Pittsburgh Pirates ace Gerrit Cole gave up four consecutive hits to start Tuesday night’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

“I was just flat and undefined, wishy washy, all over the plate,” Cole said.

The right-hander lasted four innings, his shortest outing of the season, as the Brewers beat the Pirates 7-4.

Cole (15-8) gave up five runs and eight hits. He walked one and struck out two.

“They were hunting fastballs early and they got some balls that they could get enough of the bat to,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “They barreled some up. Some they stayed inside of and worked the other way for some hits. They took advantage of missed execution early.”

Ryan Braun drove in a run with a single and Adam Lind drove in two with a double as Milwaukee grabbed a 3-0 lead before Cole retired a batter. Jean Segura drove in another run in the inning with a two-out infield hit.

While Cole struggled, Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson cruised. He retired 10 straight before Jung Ho Kang led off the fifth with a double and then scored on Neil Walker’s single.

Nelson (11-10) gave up four hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out six.

Nelson is 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in five starts against the Pirates this year.

“He’s shown us good stuff,” Hurdle said. “There’s usually one inning in there where we’ve been able to get after him.”

. We didn’t have that inning tonight.”

Pedro Alvarez hit a leadoff home run in the eighth to cut the lead to 5-2.

Aramis Ramirez and Kang hit back-to-back homers in the ninth.