Dustin May impressed in his debut for the Milwaukee Brewers, who used home runs from Jackson Chourio and Gary Sanchez to beat the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 on Thursday.
May (6-7), a trade-deadline acquisition from the St. Louis Cardinals earlier this week, threw six innings and allowed just two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out five. After issuing a walk to Jake Mangum to start the game, the right-hander struck out the next three, earning applause from the crowd.
Four Brewers pitchers combined to limit the Pirates to six hits as the National League Central leaders won the final three games in the four-game series.
Chourio put his new teammate ahead in the bottom of the first with a one-out solo homer, his 15th of the season, off Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft (11-5).
Milwaukee used some small ball to pad its lead. David Hamilton walked off Ashcraft to start the third, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. That enabled Cooper Pratt to double the Brewers’ advantage with a sacrifice fly.
May’s biggest hurdle came in the fourth. Brandon Lowe led off the inning with his 24th home run. The first four Pirates reached in the frame, and Spencer Horwitz’s single tied the game, bringing home Bryan Reynolds. However, center fielder Garrett Mitchell threw out Endy Rodriguez, who tried to advance to third. May retired the next two batters to escape the jam.
Sanchez, who went 2-for-3, restored Milwaukee’s lead with one out in the fifth thanks to his ninth homer, a solo shot off Ashcraft. An out later, Pratt doubled and subsequently scored on Brice Turang’s base hit.
Ashcraft tossed five innings, giving up four runs on four hits and a walk. He struck out five.
Chad Patrick pitched the ninth for the Brewers after closer Trevor Megill saved the past two games. He gave up a walk and a hit to bring up the tying run, but he coaxed Ronny Simon to ground into a game-inning double play to earn his fifth save.
Pittsburgh fell for the eighth time in its last 10 games and now sits in last place in the NL Central.