MILWAUKEE _ As auditions go, the Pirates will probably evaluate Steven Brault on the work he did off the mound. Like an actor eager to land the part, though, he brought something extra at the plate.
Brault allowed one hit in six scoreless innings during the Pirates' 7-0 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on Monday. He also went 2 for 3 with a double and a two-run single. The overall body of work helped the Pirates (68-77) end their five-game losing streak.
Three Pirates home runs also made a difference. Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte and Jordy Mercer all homered.
The 25-year-old Brault made his second big league start of the season. He allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings against the Cubs last week for the Pirates after a stellar campaign in the Class AAA Indianapolis rotation and some late-season relief work in the majors. As the Pirates rest their starters for one turn through the rotation _ first Ivan Nova, now Jameson Taillon and likely Chad Kuhl next _ Brault and Tyler Glasnow entered the fold after the conclusion of Indianapolis' playoff run.
Monday, Brault showed why the International League named him its most valuable pitcher.
You'll find the Brewers' most recent road trip filed under "baseball's weird." The Cincinnati Reds swept them at Great American Ball Park. They answered by sweeping the first-place Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, outscoring them 20-3 in the process and moving within two games of them in the NL Central standings.
Milwaukee came home for three games before heading back on the road to Miami and Pittsburgh next week. The Pirates did the Cubs and Brewers no favors by allowing the St. Louis Cardinals to sweep them over the weekend, and the Brewers had a chance gain on the idle Cubs against a Pirates team that had lost five in a row.
But they'd have to get through Brault, and that proved challenging.
Brault retired the first 11 batters he faced, with help from a diving stop by Sean Rodriguez at third. Ryan Braun broke the streak with two outs in the fourth inning by drawing a walk, but Travis Shaw struck out looking.
The no-hit bid ended in the fifth with a leadoff single by Jesus Aguilar, but Brault put away the next three batters. He retired the side in order in the sixth as well. Brault attacked the Brewers with fastballs, throwing 76 of them in 92 pitches. The Brewers swung through 10 of them, and Brault struck out six.
McCutchen hit his 24th homer of the season, and first since Aug. 8, in the first inning. After Brault doubled in the fifth, which at the time gave him one more hit than he had allowed, Marte homered to extend the Pirates' lead to 4-0.
Josh Bell and Gregory Polanco smoked line drives in the sixth that drove Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff from the game. With two outs, Jared Hughes intentionally walked Mercer to load the bases for Brault. Brault's two-run single up the middle put the Pirates ahead, 6-0.
Mercer homered in the eighth against Jacob Barnes.
Lefty Dan Runzler made his first appearance since 2012. The Pirates promoted him Sunday after Indianapolis' season ended. He threw two pitches to Stephen Vogt and got him to pop out and end the eighth inning.
