PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Civale pitched six scoreless innings in his last start before the postseason and Joey Ortiz was a home run short of the cycle as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 on Thursday.
Civale (8-9) allowed three hits, struck out five and walked one. He is 6-1 with a 2.57 ERA in his last nine starts.
“He just continues to impress me as a pitcher,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “In this day and age to see a pitcher like that … he had pinpoint control today.”
Ortiz, a rookie third baseman, tripled in third inning and came home on Brice Turang’s ground out to open the scoring. Ortiz also doubled in a run in the sixth to increase the Brewers’ lead to 5-0.
The National League Central champion Brewers will open a best-of-three NL Wild Card Series at home starting next Tuesday. They finish the regular season by hosting the contending New York Mets in a three-game series that begins Friday night.
Murphy would not commit to having Civale start in the wild-card round but sounded like he is leaning that way.
“I think the fact he’s got some years under his belt,” Murphy said. “He does provide an answer to navigate some innings against any kind of hitters. I think there’s a case for him for sure.”
Civale is just happy to be headed to the postseason after being acquired from Tampa Bay on July 3 in a trade.
“Everything has been good about it,” Civale said of being with the Brewers. “I’m just fortunate to have the opportunity here. I’m just enjoying the ride and taking it start by start.”
The Brewers have won five of their last seven games and went 46-35 on the road this season.
Blake Perkins and Gary Sanchez had two hits each for the Brewers and Turang drove in two runs. Devin Williams pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 14th save in 15 opportunities.
Mitch Keller (11-12) lost his final start of the year, giving up three runs and six hits in five innings in the Pirates’ home finale. After the All-Star break, Keller went 1-7 with a 5.65 ERA in 12 starts.
“Up and down, up and down,” Keller said of his season. “There’s definitely a lot of highlights up there and definitely a lot of lowlights. But overall, a lot of good things to look back on and a lot of things to keep working for. I don’t know, it’s weird. I’m happy with it and also disappointed in some areas too.”
Eric Haase doubled in a run in the fifth inning then scored on Turang’s single to make it 3-0. Milwaukee added to the lead in the sixth on RBI doubles by Perkins and Ortiz.
Bryan De La Cruz broke up the Brewers’ shutout bid with a two-run home run in the seventh inning off Nick Mears, but the Pirates lost for the ninth time in 13 games. They finished with a 39-42 home record.
Nick Gonzales had two hits for the Pirates.
The Pirates had a season attendance of 1,720,321, nearly 100,000 more than last year and their best mark since 2017. Much of the attendance spike was attributable to the emergence of rookie pitcher Paul Skenes.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Brewers: Mears (right forearm inflammation) was activated from the 15-day injured list and RHP Kevin Herget was optioned to Triple-A Nashville.
UP NEXT
Brewers: RHP Frankie Montas (7-11, 4.85) will start Friday night for Milwaukee while the Mets are undecided on a pitcher after being rained out Wednesday and Thursday in Atlanta.
Pirates: RHP Jared Jones (6-8, 4.14) will start the opener of a three-game series Friday night in New York against Yankees LHP Carlos Rodon (16-9, 3.98).
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