Pirates win 5-4, take two of three in Miller Park

The Pirates held on to beat the Brewers 5-4, taking two of three in the series and bottling the curse of Miller Park ... at least until next time, when there's surely a possibility that watery crap will pour forth yet again.

The Bucs scored one in the second, when Michael McKenry walked and Jordy Mercer tripled him home on a shot to the gap in left-center. The following inning, they tacked on three more runs. Starling Marte doubled and Neil Walker was hit by a pitch. Marte moved to third when Andrew McCutchen hit into a force out, then came home on Garrett Jones' sacrifice fly. Then Gaby Sanchez walked, and Pedro Alvarez brought home both runners with a double that landed somewhere near the foul line in right.

Wandy Rodriguez might have escaped the fifth without allowing any runs, but with two on and two outs, Walker briefly cut the wrong direction on a grounder by the speedy Jean Segura, leading to an infield single that set up a bases-clearing Ryan Braun double. Rodriguez left after that inning, having posted four strikeouts and no walks.

In the sixth, McKenry doubled, then came around to score on Marte's sacrifice fly. The insurance run turned out to be helpful, because Jeff Bianchi tripled off Mark Melancon in the eighth, then came home on a sacrifice. Jason Grilli pitched a perfect ninth for the save, however.

The Pirates are now 31-19, and are tied with the Reds for second place in the NL Central.