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Avisail Garcia drove in five runs and Omar Narvaez collected five hits to help the Milwaukee Brewers claim their 11th straight victory, an 11-2 decision over the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday at PNC Park.
The loss was the sixth straight for Pittsburgh, which was outhit 16-7.
The Brewers jumped on Pirates starter Cody Ponce for three runs in the first inning and two runs in the second, and that was pretty much the ballgame.
Garcia doubled home two runs in the first and Jace Peterson followed with an RBI double.
In the second, Narvaez drove in a run with a base hit and Garcia added another RBI on a single.
The Bucs scored their lone run in the second on Jared Oliva’s RBI single – Oliva’s first career RBI.
Ponce never made it out of the second inning; in 1 2/3 innings he was charged with five earned runs on six hits and three walks. He struck out three.
Duane Underwood Jr. did his best to keep the Pirates in the game, working 3 1/3 scoreless innings and giving up two hits and two walks while striking out four.
But the Brewers struck for two more runs in the sixth and then added two additional runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to put the game away.
Ben Gamel had two of the Pirates’ four hits, including his fourth homer of the year.
The Pirates will look to salvage the final game of the four-game set today at 1:05 p.m. Tyler Anderson will start for the Bucs and Freddy Peralta will get the nod for the Brewers.
NOTES – AT&T Sports Net announced Sunday that former Pirate Neil Walker would work in the broadcast booth during the second half of the season, with his first game scheduled for Aug. 13. Walker, who announced his retirement in April, also will work several games on 93.7 The Fan.
In the minors, Altoona first baseman Mason Martin showed off his power stroke, blasting a pair of home runs in the Curve’s 7-5 loss to Hartford. Martin now has 11 home runs and 37 RBIs on the season to go with a .262 average and an .888 OPS.
At Indianapolis, Max Kranick, who was perfect in his Pirates debut a week ago, found Triple-A hitters a tougher puzzle to solve, as he was touched for a first-inning grand slam in the opening frame by Iowa’s Alfonso Rivas.