Milwaukee, WI – Yovani Gallardo tossed seven innings and was one of four Milwaukee players to hit a solo home run, as the Brewers outslugged the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-4, on Monday in the opener of a three- game set at Miller Park.
Jean Segura had three hits, including a two-run blast, while Norichika Aoki, Carlos Gomez and Yuniesky Betancourt each hit solo shots for the Brewers, who have won eight straight versus the Pirates.
Milwaukee also improved to 14-1 versus the Bucs when Gallardo (3-1) starts on the hill, while the righty has a 10-1 mark all-time in those outings. He allowed two runs -- one earned -- on just three hits and struck out five in the victory.
"My rhythm is slowly getting there," Gallardo said. "Tonight for the first few innings, I had to fight for it. I had to make an adjustment, then as the game went on I started to feel a lot better. My job is to put up zeros so they can get back up to the plate and score some more. That makes it just a matter of throwing strikes."
Garrett Jones hit a two-run homer and Gaby Sanchez and Andrew McCutchen each drove in one run for the Pirates, who were coming off a series win versus St. Louis.
Starter Wandy Rodriguez (2-1) struggled through 3 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs on six hits and four walks to absorb the loss.
"When you don't make good pitches the ball is going to fly here," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. "They've always had good hitters here. We were rough off the mound tonight. We couldn't get the ball where we wanted. We've been here before and not won, we've started the last four series like this and have bounced back."
Pittsburgh actually took a 1-0 advantage in the first as McCutchen grounded into a fielder's choice scoring Starling Marte.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the hosts struck back with five runs in the bottom of the frame.
Aoki drew a leadoff walk and Segura followed with a homer over the center- field wall. Later in the frame, Gomez walked to load the bases and Betancourt grounded out to short to plate Ryan Braun to make it 3-1. The next batter, Martin Maldonado, made it 5-1 with a two-run single to right.
Sanchez cut Pittsburgh's deficit to 5-2 in the third. He smacked a double to left scoring Jones, but that's the closest the visitors got.
Milwaukee utilized back-to-back solo home runs in consecutive innings and took control for good. In the fourth, Gallardo helped his own cause and crushed Rodriguez's 2-1 offering over the right-center wall for his second homer of the year. Aoki followed with a mirrored effort, smacking another 2-1 offering, this time over the center-field wall, to make it 7-2.
In eerily similar fashion just one inning later, Gomez and Betancourt hit back-to-back shots to increase the Brewers' lead to 9-2. Betancourt singled up the middle in the seventh, scoring Gomez to account for the home team's final run.
Jones' two-out, two-run shot in the eighth provided the final margin.
Game Notes
The Brewers improved to 45-7 against the Pirates at home since 2007 ... Pittsburgh had outscored its opponents 19-6 in Rodriguez's previous four starts this season ... Rodriguez is 3-8 in 13 career starts at Miller Park, though it was his first start there as a member of the Pirates.
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