Zach Davies leads Brewers to 2-1 win over Pirates, tie for first place in NL Central

WP - Jeremy Jeffress (2-2)
LP - Kyle Crick (3-4)
SV - Matt Albers (1)
HR - MIL: Eric Thames (12)

Despite all of the ups and downs in the month of June -- and there were plenty of downs in the last couple of weeks -- the Milwaukee Brewers were able to salvage a .500 month and move into a tie for first place in the NL Central with a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday.

The Brewers were able to take advantage (or at least enough advantage) for four Pirates errors and Zach Davies bounced back from back-to-back poor starts and helped his own cause with the bat in the process.

After giving up an RBI double to Melky Cabrera in the first inning, Davies shut Pittsburgh down, allowing just that one run over 5.1 innings and allowing just 4 hits after that point.

Davies then made up for that first inning run by delivering with a single in the 4th inning. Mike Moustakas scored after an error by catcher Elias Diaz, who then compounded the mistake with another error that allowed Davies to move to second.

The scored stayed tied at 1 until the 8th inning, thanks to 2.2 combined hitless innings from Freddy Peralta and Jeremy Jeffress. Eric Thames would continue to solidify his hold on the first base job and break the tie in the bottom of the 8th inning with a solo home run off the batter’s eye in dead center to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead heading into the 9th inning.

Matt Albers would get the save opportunity with Craig Counsell opting to rest Josh Hader after throwing 3 innings in the past 3 days. Albers allowed a single but was able to close the door for his 8th straight scoreless appearance and the Brewers’ first series win since sweeping the Pirates on June 7th-9th.

This is your reminder that Matt Albers has been very good this year, despite his reputation.

With the Cubs losing to the Reds, the Brewers will begin July in a tie for first place in the NL Central.

They’ll head to Cincinnati next for another four games against those Reds. Adrian Houser will get the start against Tyler Mahle, with first pitch coming at 6:10 p.m. CDT.