The short-rest thing worked out pretty well for Chase Anderson on Wednesday night.
Backed by an offense that poured it on early, the right-hander turned in a solid 5 1/3-inning start on just three days' rest as the Milwaukee Brewers knocked off the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-2, at Miller Park.
Eric Thames homered to key a four-run third inning and rookie Brett Phillips made the most of a rare start by driving in three runs and also making a terrific throw from center to cut down a potential run in the fourth.
Anderson, meanwhile, scattered seven hits, two runs (one earned) and a walk while striking out a pair in a 94-pitch outing that, along with a St. Louis Cardinals loss, helped move Milwaukee back into sole possession of second place in the NL Central.
A 30-minute first inning featuring a home run, an ejection and three walks resulted in nothing more than a 1-1 tie.
The Pirates jumped in front three batters in on Andrew McCutchen's 200th career homer, a line drive to left-center.
The Brewers answered by drawing three walks in their first four at-bats against right-hander Tyler Glasnow. The second walk, drawn by Neil Walker, was followed by a quick ejection of Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle by home-plate umpire Bill Welke, after Hurdle voiced his displeasure with ball four from the top of the dugout steps.
Eric Sogard ran into the second out on an attempted steal of third base with Travis Shaw up, but Shaw eventually walked and Hernan Perez followed with a broken-bat bloop single to short left to score Walker and knot the score at 1.
Milwaukee was playing down two outfielders with Ryan Braun being given the night off and Domingo Santana a late scratch due to right trapezius tightness.
The lineup juggling gave Thames a start in left field, and he responded by homering to left-center in the third. The two-run shot, which came on the heels of Sogard's second walk, was his 30th of the season and gave him homers in consecutive games for the first time since Aug. 11-12.
After Glasnow retired Walker and Shaw, Perez walked, Pina singled and both moved into scoring position on stolen bases to bring up rookie Brett Phillips. He responded with a bloop single to right, shattering his bat in the process, to up the lead to 5-1.
Phillips made a highlight play in the field as well in the fourth.
With runners in scoring position and one out, Elias Diaz sent a sinking liner to center that Phillips caught on the run. Freese tagged and tried scoring from third, but Phillips made a pinpoint, two-hop throw home to get him by a step and complete the double play.
Phillips contributed another RBI single and then scored a run in what turned out to be a three-run fifth as the Brewers stretched their lead out to 8-1.
Orlando Arcia's error to start the sixth opened the door to Anderson's eventual departure, with three consecutive singles _ two of the broken-bat variety _ allowing the Pirates to pull to within 8-2.
Manager Craig Counsell pulled the plug there on Anderson (10-3), who had thrown just 67 pitches over five innings in a blowout victory over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.
It marked the first time Anderson had made consecutive starts on short rest, a situation necessitated by the season-ending shoulder injury suffered by Jimmy Nelson last Friday.
Oliver Drake relieved Anderson, and four more relievers followed to close out the game for the Brewers.
