Peralta, Pina pace Brewers past Pirates

Freddy Peralta flashed his All-Star stuff for six scoreless innings and light-hitting Manny Pina clubbed a pair of homers and drove in five to pace the Milwaukee Brewers to a 12-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates Thursday night at PNC Park.

The loss was the fourth in a row for the Pirates, who start a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies at 7:05 p.m. Friday at PNC Park.

Peralta, who had lost both of his starts to the Pirates prior to Thursday night’s game, limited the Bucs to just two hits and a walk and struck out five in improving to 8-3 on the season and helping his club complete a three-game sweep.

The 25-year-old right-hander, who struck out the side in the All-Star game earlier this month, did not allow a hit until Ben Gamel lined a single to right with two outs in the fourth inning. He was quickly gunned down on an attempted steal of second, ending the inning.

The only other hit Peralta allowed was John Nogowski’s one-out single in the sixth.

Pirates starter Chad Kuhl fared fairly well himself, holding the Brewers to one run through five innings before unraveling a bit in the sixth.

Milwaukee took a 1-0 lead in the second when Tyrone Taylor doubled with one out, moved to third on a Kuhl wild pitch and scored on Lorenzo Cain’s grounder to second.

The Brewers then broke it open with a five-run sixth inning, chasing Kuhl in the process. Rowdy Tellez’s double off the wall in right-center field drove in Willy Adames with the first run of the inning and after Chris Stratton relieved Kuhl, Tellez scored on Taylor’s double inside the bag at third to make it 3-0. Stratton then walked Cain before serving up a three-run homer to the .135-hitting Pina, doubling the Brewers’ lead to 6-0.

Kuhl wound up going 5 1/3 innings and gave up six hits and three earned runs while walking one and striking out five.

The Brewers scored another run in the seventh on Tellez’s solo homer. Pina added a two-run homer in the eighth and Milwaukee tacked on three more runs in the ninth when Nogowski came on to mop up on the mound.

Rodolfo Castro failed to continue his home run streak, although he did take a Peralta pitch to the warning track in center field for a long out in the second. He also struck the ball well in the fifth, lining out to Avisail Garcia near the warning track in right.

TRADE WINDS – Richard Rodriguez remained a Pirate – at least as of late Thursday night – but there was plenty of action across the big leagues as Friday afternoon’s trade deadline drew closer. The Chicago Cubs shipped first baseman Anthony Rizzo to the Yankees and the Dodgers appeared to have acquired not only Max Scherzer from the Washington Nationals but also shortstop Trea Turner. That deal surfaced hours after it was reported that the Padres were close to dealing for Scherzer.