MILWAUKEE – Brandon Woodruff pitched hitless ball into the sixth inning, Rowdy Tellez homered for the second straight day and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 Wednesday for a three-game sweep.
Woodruff (2-1) gave up just one hit, a one-out single by former teammate Daniel Vogelbach in the sixth.
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After pitching five shutout innings in a win over St. Louis in his last outing, Woodruff struck out nine and walked two in six scoreless innings to beat the Pirates. The two-time All-Star struck out Bryan Reynolds three times and Ben Gamel and Josh VanMeter twice each.
Josh Hader earned his sixth save in six tries, finishing off Milwaukee’s fourth straight win.
Tellez gave the NL Central champions a 1-0 lead with a home run in the second inning. He fouled off five pitches from Mitch Keller (0-3) before hitting a 96 mph fastball 394 feet.
Tellez hit a two-run homer in Tuesday's win.
Keller held Milwaukee to one run on four hits in 5⅓ innings, striking out seven. He had given up eight earned runs in 7⅔ innings in his first two starts.
Keston Hiura extended Milwaukee’s lead to 4-0 with a three-run homer in the seventh. His 400-foot shot to the opposite field in right came off Miguel Yajure.
Since 2019, when he entered the big leagues with Milwaukee, Hiura has 11 homers against Pittsburgh, tied with four other players for most in the majors.
Pittsburgh cut the lead to 4-2 in the eighth on a two-run single Ke’Bryan Hayes off Devin Williams.
Pittsburgh scored only five runs in the three-game series.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: Gamel crashed his back into the wall in left field trying to catch a foul ball by Jace Peterson in the fifth. The ball caromed off Gamel’s glove. He stayed in the game.
Brewers: IF Luis Urías (left quad strain) will play an extended spring game on Thursday in Arizona.
UP NEXT
Pirates: Begin a four-game series Thursday against the Cubs in Chicago. RHP Bryse Wilson (0-0, 5.40 ERA) faces Cubs RHP Mark Leiter Jr. (0-1, 18.90 ERA).
Brewers: Start a three-game set in Philadelphia on Friday. RHP Freddy Peralta (0-1, 11.57 ERA) faces Phillies LHP Ranger Suárez (1-0, 5.87 ERA).
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