EditorsNote: adds "visiting" in lede
The sizzling Milwaukee Brewers strengthened their hold on the National League's second wild card with a 10-1 home win over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.
Chase Anderson (7-4) shut out the Pirates on three hits over six innings as Milwaukee (84-70) moved two games ahead of the slumping Chicago Cubs, who lost earlier Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals.
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 the Miami Marlins.
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 came home on a throwing error by Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman.
Keston Hiura's one-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth made it 4-0 for the Brewers, and 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 six runs (four earned) on six hits and three walks 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 the team's six hits as the Pirates (65-89) lost their seventh 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.
--Field Level Media
