PITTSBURGH _ Francisco Liriano received a much different reaction when he left the mound Thursday night than he had in recent starts. He made the trip to the dugout later in the evening than usual, for one. He also left with a lead. And for only the second time in 19 starts this season, the major league leader in walks did not walk a batter.
He did strike out 13 of them.
Liriano and the Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-3, at PNC Park and took two of three from the fourth-place Brewers, who are now 40-53. The less difficult portion of the schedule continues Friday, when the Philadelphia Phillies, also in fourth place in their division, visit PNC Park for the weekend.
Thursday's victory featured the return of vintage Liriano.
He allowed three runs, two earned, and four hits. He struck out two batters in the first, second, third and fifth innings, then struck out the side in the sixth. His fastball reached 96 mph, his slider 88 mph, but he also had the slower, low-80s slider that drops rather than arcs.
He had it all, and he had command of it all.
With two outs in the third inning, Liriano got ahead, 0-2, on Jonathan Villar. His next pitch was a fastball low in the zone but right down the middle. Villar put it into the bullpen for his seventh homer of the season.
The Brewers scored two runs in the seventh on Hernan Perez's RBI hit and Scooter Gennett's RBI groundout. With two outs, nobody on and the right-handed Will Middlebrooks up, manager Clint Hurdle removed Liriano, who had thrown 103 pitches, to applause and cheers from the 35,978 who had come for fireworks night.
Neftali Feliz, Tony Watson and Mark Melancon preserved the lead, and Melancon saved his 28th game after blowing the save in each of his past two outings.
Changes to the lineup, both intended and forced, played out well for the Pirates Thursday night.
Adam Frazier replaced Josh Harrison at second base. He also replaced John Jaso as the leadoff batter. When the Pirates removed Starling Marte from the lineup because of flu-like symptoms (he entered the game in the eighth), Matt Joyce got the start in right field while Gregory Polanco moved to left.
Brewers starter Matt Garza walked Polanco and Andrew McCutchen in the first inning. Joyce lined his ninth homer over the Clemente wall and the Pirates had an early 3-0 lead. Joyce drove in another run in the third inning when his fielder's choice brought Polanco in from third.
After Eric Fryer singled with two outs in the fourth, Liriano extended the inning with a single. That allowed Frazier's hit to drive home a run.
Entering Thursday's game, Jaso was hitting .209/.298/.282 since June 1. In that same timeframe, Harrison hit .203/.225/.307. Frazier, a 24-year-old rookie out of Mississippi State, had only 35 major league plate appearances, but he was hitting .344 with a .400 OBP, four doubles and a triple.
