The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 last night in the first game of a three-game series at PNC Park. Trevor Williams allowed one hit over seven innings. He walked two and struck out seven. Felipe Vazquez earned his 14th save with a scoreless ninth inning after Kyle Crick was perfect in the eighth inning. The only Pirate run was Francisco Cervelli who was driven in on a Jordy Mercer double in the seventh inning. Cervelli had two of the Pirates seven hits. The Bucs and Brewers meet again tonight at 7:05pm. Hear the game on WISR 680am beginning at 6:40pm. Jameson Taillon will start for the Pirates, who have won four of their last five games.
The Pirates are now 36-36 overall, and six games behind the Brewers and Chicago Cubs. The Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers were rained out last night in Chicago.
The Pirates activated right-handed reliever Richard Rodriquez from the 10-day disabled list. They also promoted utility player Jose Osuna from Indianapolis. Osuna was batting .340 over 40 games this season with the Indians. The Bucs sent pitcher Dovydas Neverauskas and catcher Jacob Stallings back to Indianapolis.
Nick Kingham was named the International League pitcher of the week after pitching eight scoreless innings in his most recent start for Indianapolis. He carried a perfect game through the first 6-1/3rd innings against Toledo. It was his second such honor this year.
Will Craig of the Altoona Curve was named the Eastern League player of the week. Craig, the Pirates first-round draft pick in 2016, hit .522 with five home runs in six games.