Manny Pina's 2 homers boosts Brewers to blowout win over Pirates to sweep series

Just when the Pittsburgh Pirates thought their troubles were with Chad Kuhl giving up doubles, Milwaukee Brewers catcher Manny Pina decided to go deep.

After the Brewers ran up a three-run lead by taking two bases on five of their first seven hits, Pina hit a three-run homer off Chris Stratton in the sixth inning and a two-run shot off Austin Davis in the seventh.

Pina went 3 for 5 with a career-high five RBIs to boost the NL Central-leading Brewers to a 12-0 win Thursday night before a crowd of 10,503 at PNC Park to sweep the three-game series.

The Pirates (38-64) lost their fourth consecutive game to drop to 22½ games behind the Brewers (61-42), who outscored the Pirates, 28-3, and bookended the series with a pair of shutout victories.

“I think we ran into a really good team,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We did not play well, but I’m not taking anything away from the Brewers. They are a good baseball team with good pitching. They execute a lot of things. They’re really athletic. This is a very good baseball team.”

It was the second career multihomer game for Pina, who was batting .135. Milwaukee had more than twice as many doubles (seven) as the Pirates had hits (three) — Tyrone Taylor had three alone — on its way to 16 hits, nine for extra bases.

Brewers starter Freddy Peralta (8-3) was ruthlessly efficient in pitching six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out five and throwing strikes on 47 of his 68 pitches. The All-Star right-hander didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning, when former Brewer Ben Gamel singled and then was caught stealing. Peralta gave up a single in the seventh to John Nogowski but stranded him on second by getting Ke’Bryan Hayes to go down looking at a called third strike.

“This guy is throwing the ball really well,” Shelton said, “and I think he pitched really well against us.”

Kuhl (3-6) allowed three runs, giving up doubles on four of his six hits while striking out five.

In the second inning, Taylor roped a one-out double to the left-field corner, advanced to third on Kuhl’s wild pitch and scored on a Lorenzo Cain fielder’s choice to second base, beating Rodolfo Castro’s throw to the plate to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead.

Kuhl gave up another double in the third, this one to Willy Adames, but got Avisail Garcia looking at a called third strike to end the inning. Luis Urias led off the fifth with a double off the Clemente Wall, but Kuhl got a groundout and a strikeout. Kolten Wong drew a walk but was caught stealing to end the inning.

Kuhl’s luck ran out in the five-run sixth, when Adames hit a leadoff single and scored on yet another double, this one coming when Rowdy Tellez drove a pitch near his ankles off the Clemente Wall for an RBI double and 2-0 lead.

Stratton relieved Kuhl but fared even worse.

Taylor drilled a double down the left-field line to score Tellez for a 3-0 lead, and Cain walked. With two outs, Pina — who entered the game hitting .135 — sent a 1-1 curveball 396 feet to left for his sixth homer and a 6-0 lead. Tellez hit another two-out homer, a solo shot in the seventh to make it 7-0.

The eighth started with Cain reaching on a throwing error by second baseman Castro. Pina drilled a 418-foot homer to center off Davis to lift Milwaukee to a 9-0 lead.

The bullpen was so bad that the Pirates turned to the left-handed Nogowski, who tossed a scoreless inning against Atlanta on July 7, to pitch the ninth. Nogowski gave up five hits, including a two-run single by Cain and an RBI double by Pablo Reyes to stretch it to 12-0.

The Pirates have been outscored 34-4 in their past four games, which includes Sunday’s loss at San Francisco. After dealing All-Star second baseman Adam Frazier to San Diego, right-handed reliever Clay Holmes to the New York Yankees and lefty starter Tyler Anderson to the Seattle Mariners, Friday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline appears to be weighing on the Pirates who still remain.

“You do get some finality to it, and I think once we get through it, kind of regroup, that’s important,” Shelton said. “Because the trade deadline is difficult for any team, and I think throughout baseball, there’s a lot of stuff going on. But I think it will be nice to have some finality to it and to know who is going to be on our club for the next 60 games.”