Aaron Thompson pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings in his major league debut and Jason Grilli came on to win for the first time in nearly two years as four Pittsburgh pitchers combined on a five-hitter in the Pirates 2-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday at P-N-C Park.
Jose Veras and Joel Hanrahan followed Thompson and Grilli to close things out for the Pirates.
The Brewers suffered just their 5th loss in the last 29 games and maintained their 10-game lead on St. Louis atop the NL Central after the Cardinals lost to the Dodgers 9-4 in St. Louis.
Shaun Marcum suffered just his fourth loss (11-4) of the season, his first loss in eight outings since the all-star break. Marcum allowed only a pair of sacrifice flies. He gave up 2 runs on 4 hits in 6-innings of work, walking 3 and striking out 4.
The Brewers are off today. They’ll open a 3-game weekend series against the Chicago Cubs at Miller Park on Friday night.
