The Milwaukee Brewers kept pace with the St. Louis Cardinals in the National
Ron Roenicke
League wildcard race, knocking off the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1 at PNC Park on Wednesday night.
The Brewers got another strong starting pitching performance, this time from Marco Estrada, who worked seven shutout innings and allowing just 3-hits to earn the victory (4-6). Estrada improved to 4-1 with a 1.23 ERA in his last six starts.
AUDIO: Marco Estrada says they’re on a roll :13
The win kept the Brewers 2 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the final wildcard spot in the National League. The Cardinals blanked Houston 5-0 on Wednesday night. Pittsburgh started the series tied with the Brewers, but they’ve fallen to 74-74, 4 1/2 games back in the wildcard race.
AUDIO: Pirates Mgr. Clint Hurdle says they’re not playing well :13
The Brewers have won 4-straight, 8 of their last 9 and 22 of their last 28.
Estrada helped his own cause with a run scoring single. Norichika Aoki led the game off with a home run. That’s 185 for the Brewers on the season, equaling the number for all of last year. Rookie shortstop Jean Segura also doubled and tripled for the Brewers.
The Pirates got their only run in the 9th on a Andrew McCutchen solo homer off of Brewers closer John Axford. But Axford quickly recovered to record his 30th save of the season.
The Brewers send Mike Fiers (9-8) to the mound this afternoon as they go for the sweep against the Pirates.