Pirates' batters fall silent
PITTSBURGH — Yovani Gallardo returned from the disabled list and pitched like an ace at a time when the Milwaukee Brewers needed one.
Gallardo pitched six shutout innings, leading the Brewers to a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night.
Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks each homered for the second time in the series for the Brewers, who allowed a combined 26 runs in losing the previous two games.
"Six shutout innings coming off the DL, particularly against a team that just went out and crushed us the last two days. ... It was good news for us," Milwaukee manager Ken Macha said.
Gallardo (9-4), named to his first All-star game the day he sustained a left oblique strain in St. Louis July 4, didn't allow a runner to advance past second base. He gave up five hits and a walk, striking out five.
Gallardo rescued what had been a four-day stretch of historically bad Milwaukee starting pitching. During three of the previous four games, a Brewers starter had allowed 10 runs or more — the first time that had happened since three St. Louis Browns pitchers did it in over a four-day span in 1937, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Gallardo has won nine of his past 11 decisions and improved to 6-1 with a 1.80 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 60 innings in 10 career starts against the Pirates.
Pittsburgh, which had scored 48 runs in winning four of its previous five, was limited to a two-run double by Neil Walker in the seventh off Todd Coffey.
"We knew coming into the series they were swinging the bats pretty good and we'd have to make quality pitches," Gallardo said. "Especially watching yesterday; they came out swinging.
"I threw the ball pretty well today. I was trying to stay on the rhythm I had before the All-star break. It had been a couple weeks, and I was able to do that tonight."
Three days after starting and winning for the first time in three years, Chris Capuano got Garret Jones to ground out weakly to end a threat in the seventh, and he recorded the first out of the eighth. John Axford retired the final five Pirates for his 13th save in as many opportunities.
"We just needed four tonight, and we couldn't push across a couple extra ones," Walker said.
Walker and Jones each had two hits for the Pirates. Rookie Pedro Alvarez, who had homered twice in each of the two previous games, went 0 for 4.
Fielder led off the fourth by hitting a 2-2 pitch from Ross Ohlendorf (1-8) into the seats in right field to take over sole possession of the National League home run lead with 24.
One at-bat after getting hit by a pitch for the major-league high 18th time, Weeks hit a two-run shot to center off All-star Evan Meek following Carlos Gomez's pinch-hit single in the seventh.
After lasting 1Z\c innings in his previous start, Ohlendorf allowed one run, five hits and a walk with one strikeout in six innings
N
otes: Walker has six straight multihit games, hitting .593 over that span. ... Pirates OF Lastings Milledge went 0 for 4 to snap a nine-game hitting streak. ... Weeks leads the majors in home runs and RBIs by a leadoff hitter.
