W: Dave Bush (4-6)
L: Jeff Karstens (2-4)
S: John Axford (10)
HR: Ryan Braun (12), Prince Fielder (20), Garrett Jones (11), Ryan Doumit (8)
MVP: Dave Bush (+.235)
LVP: Carlos Gomez (-.060)
Graph of Knocking Jeff Karstens Around and Star of the Game Voting
SB Nation Coverage
I know it's mean but I can't help it: Beating Jeff Karstens just makes me feel good. It's like going to your high school class reunion and discovering that the douchebag who thought he was better than everyone else has done time in prison and now cleans septic systems for a living.
The Brewers went back-to-back against Karstens in the third inning, with Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder doing the honors. Braun's shot ended a 44 PA, eleven game homerless streak. He went 2-for-4 in the game with a walk, a double and a stolen base and scored three of the four Brewer runs.
Meanwhile, Dave Bush made the lead stand up. He allowed two runs on six hits and two walks over 6.1 innings, striking out five. Kameron Loe, Zach Braddock and John Axford took it from there. Axford allowed a leadoff home run to Ryan Doumit in the ninth, but nothing else.
And, of course, no Brewer-Pirates game is complete without some plunkings: Dave Bush hit Neil Walker early in the game, and both benches were warned after Sean Gallagher hit Rickie Weeks in the sixth.
In the eighth inning of Friday's game the Brewers were down 4-2 and riding a five game losing streak. If you had told me at that point that the Brewers would be looking for a sweep tomorrow, I'd have been pretty happy with that.