A career outing by Milwaukee Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo and one bad inning defensively doomed the Pittsburgh Pirates, who dropped their series finale to the Brewers, 4-0.
Gallardo was able to keep the Pirates bats silent all afternoon, allowing one run on four hits while striking out a career-high 14 batters.
One player he was not able to stop was Andrew McCutchen, who opened the scoring with his a solo home run in the top of the fourth inning. McCutchen ended the day 3-for-5 and now sits atop the National League in batting with an average of .371.
Pirates starter A.J. Burnett was cruising through his start until the sixth inning when the wheels came off. After allowing back-to-back singles to start the inning, a wild throw by Garrett Jones allowed the Brewers to tie the game. A booted ball by Pedro Alvarez during the next at-bat gave the Brewers the lead. After another tough-luck flair, the Brewers held a 4-1 advantage at the end of the inning, and then coasted to the win.
Burnett finished with four runs allowed on nine hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts. The Pirates now head to Colorado, where they will begin a three-game series with the Rockies Monday.
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