Tyler Anderson tosses 7 scoreless innings, Kevin Newman homers as Pirates beat Brewers

The Pittsburgh Pirates were protecting a two-run lead with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning. Derek Shelton didn’t send his starting pitcher to the on-deck circle.

Not that the Pirates manager had any intention of pinch-hitting for Tyler Anderson, given the way he was cruising through the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday afternoon.

“It was no decision,” Shelton said. “He was going to hit the entire time. I just didn’t want him standing on deck. Let him sit down there, if we extended that inning. But he was going out there regardless.”

Shelton took some heat from the crowd of 12,527 at PNC Park when Anderson went down swinging to end the inning but the left-hander rewarded the decision by pitching seven scoreless innings to lead the Pirates to a 2-0 victory.

The Pirates (30-53) snapped their own six-game losing streak and ended an 11-game winning streak by the Brewers (51-34), who had outscored them, 25-6, in winning the first three games of the four-game series.

“That was a big one,” Anderson said. “We’ve just been scuffling a little bit and not scoring a lot of runs, so just going out and keeping down a team that’s been swinging the bat pretty well and put up some runs on us. Just to stay in there, it’s just huge for us to enjoy the Fourth of July.”

The Pirates won despite sitting third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, who had only one hit over his past six games. His replacements in both the batting order and on the field provided both of the Pirates’ runs.

Kevin Newman entered the game hitting .208 but batted second in place of Hayes and sent Freddy Peralta’s first-pitch fastball 356 feet over the left-field fence for his third homer. It was a 92.9-mph line drive that didn’t qualify as a hard hit but nonetheless gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

“That was more of just a reaction,” Newman said. “That’s one of the things that I’ve been working on, just trusting myself and trusting my ability and just reacting instead of trying to make things happen. I was just looking for a good pitch to hit, a fastball over the plate. He gave it to me and I put a good swing on it, so I’m super happy to get a hit, really.”

After being selected from Triple-A Indianapolis when Erik Gonzalez was placed on the injured list, Wilmer Difo gave the Pirates a boost. He made a spectacular stop at third base to start the second inning, diving to his left on a Keston Hiura grounder. Difo added an insurance run in the sixth, driving in Ben Gamel with an RBI double to left for a 2-0 lead.

“Really good game,” Shelton said of Difo. “Between him and Tyler Anderson, just really good. Made a hell of a play on that ground ball. We have one of the best third basemen in baseball who is there normally. Big, clutch hit. I think we talked about this when he was here before, and even when we sent him out the first time, this kid provides a ton of energy, and having him back in our dugout is nice to see.”

Anderson struck out six while allowing three hits on 93 pitches, cruising through a Brewers lineup that was missing Christian Yelich, Omar Narvaez and Jace Peterson as starters. Anderson encountered his only trouble in the second inning, when he walked Manny Pina, gave up a single to Jackie Bradley Jr. and hit Daniel Robertson with a pitch to load the bases.

The Pirates got out of the jam when first baseman Phillip Evans crashed hard to beat Anderson to Peralta’s bunt and tossed it to catcher Michael Perez for a 3-2-4 double play to end the inning. Anderson retired 15 of the final 17 batters, allowing only singles to Tyrone Taylor in the third and Avisail Garcia in the sixth.

The bullpen protected the lead, as David Bednar retired the side in the eighth and Richard Rodriguez got pinch hitters Yelich and Narvaez to fly out with Willy Adames on second to earn his 11th save.

“We needed a clean game like this,” Shelton said. “We needed an executed start like this, and he really did a nice job.”