Brewers shut out Pirates 4-0, win series

W: Yovani Gallardo (10-9)
L: Gerrit Cole (6-7)

HR: Aramis Ramirez (9)

MVP: Yovani Gallardo (+.315 WPA)
LVP: Juan Francisco (-.063 WPA)

win expectancy graph | box score

On a night where everyone is off watching the Packers play preseason football (or in my case, stuck listening to it because the Brewers are on AM and I live under power lines) the Brewers of course carry off a shutout. Not only that, a shutout where they scored four entire runs.

Yovani Gallardo has pitched 7 innings or more in 8 starts out of 26 this season and has pitched 6 innings or more in 19 starts. We know about the Brewers' difficulty with complete games this year but even with the lack of 9-inning starts, Gallardo has consistently gone out there and kept the bullpen out of it for the most part. Brandon Kintzler put in his 6th appearance of 2 innings or more in 2013 to close it out. I was listening to the Pirates broadcast and they were saying nice things about Kintzler, so perhaps people outside Milwaukee are coming to appreciate the reasonably consistent job he's done as setup man this season.

Scooter Gennett had another singles night as he went 3 for 4 with a run scored. With Aoki not starting, this was probably all you could ask for. I can't complain that much about the top 5 or 6 batters in this lineup. 7 and 8, though...the jury's still out on Gindl, and Francisco is swinging at everything.

The Brewers return home tomorrow for exciting interleague action against the Angels at 7:10. Wily Peralta will pitch for the Brewers. Of course, the Brewers batters get stuck facing Jered Weaver. Of course.