Brewers blast Pirates, strengthen wild-card standing

The sizzling Milwaukee Brewers strengthened their current hold on the National League's second wild card with Friday night's 10-1 home win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Chase Anderson (7-4) shut out the Pirates for six innings on three hits as Milwaukee (84-70) moved two games ahead of the slumping Chicago Cubs, who lost earlier Friday against St, Louis.

The Brewers, with their sixth win in seven games, remained a game behind the Washington Nationals for the top wild-card spot after the Nationals defeated Miami. The Brewers jumped on Pirates starter Steven Brault for three runs -- two of them unearned -- in the bottom of the first inning. Lorenzo Cain scored on an opposite-field single from Mike Moustakas, and both Moustakas and Ryan Braun scored on a throwing error from Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman.

Keston Hiura's one-out single in the bottom of the sixth made it 4-0 for the Brewers, then Manny Pina was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Ben Gamel drove in a run with a walk for a three-run rally. Brault (4-6) was charged with four earned runs (six total runs) on six hits with six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.

The Brewers put the game out of reach with a four-run seventh, which featured Trent Grisham's bases-clearing triple. Adam Frazier's seventh-inning home run, his 10th of the season, accounted for Pittsburgh's only run. Brian Reynolds had three of Pittsburgh's six hits, but the Pirates (65-89) have lost seven in a row.

Moustakas, Yasmani Grandal and Cory Spangenberg, who entered the game as a pinch-runner for Hiura in the sixth, each scored twice for the Brewers. Milwaukee has won 13 of 15 on its way to sole possession of the NL's second wild card. The Brewers are 8-2 since losing star right fielder Christian Yelich to a knee injury. They improved 15-4 in September.