As far as the Milwaukee Brewers are concerned, it’s always nice to see the Pittsburgh Pirates come to town.
Riding the combination of some strong pitching and just enough offense, the Brewers remain undefeated this season against their NL Central Counterparts at American Family Field after a 4-3 Victory on Friday night.
Aaron Ashby won for just the second time on the year after turning in a solid five-inning start, and four different players drove in runs as Milwaukee ran its record to 4-0 against Pittsburgh on its home turf in 2022.
Box score:Brewers 4, Pirates 3
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Willy Adames also homered, tying Rowdy Tellez for the team lead with his 17th.
Ashby’s start was his second since being reinstated from the injured list on July 2 as well as his second against the Pirates.
His return was far from triumphant in Pittsburgh, where he was tagged for five hits – including a pair of homers – four runs and a walk with six strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings.
This time out he was allowed to throw 10 more pitches (72 in all) and only made one mistake, an 0-2 Slider that was actually down and out of the Strike zone that Diego Castillo was nonetheless able to turn on and drive out to left-center to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead in the fourth.
Ashby (2-6). whose two walks came in his final six batters, capped his appearance with a terrific snag of a 95.9-mph shot right back at him by Bryan Reynolds.
They allowed three hits and the two runs while striking out three.
The Brewers took the lead in the second against JT Brubaker on a one-out, bases-loaded single by Keston Hiura.
They then got back in front in the bottom of the fourth thanks to an RBI triple by Kolten Wong and a bases-loaded single by Jace Peterson, who grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the second.
Milwaukee was in position to further pad its lead only to see Christian Yelich and Adames strike out.
After Hoby Milner tossed a 1-2-3 seventh, Adames led off the bottom of the frame by homering to left. It was his first homer since hitting a grand slam at Pittsburgh on July 1.
Devin Williams worked around a pair of baserunners in the eighth and Josh Hader caught a huge break in the ninth when, with two on and two outs, Kevin Newman was thrown out easily at home trying to score from first on a single by Daniel Vogelbach.
Andrew McCutchen and Adames combined on a picture-perfect relay, and Victor Caratini applied the tag at home, sealing the Victory and Hader’s 26th save.