Cruz breaks slump with 3 hits, Jones cruises as Pirates beat Brewers 4
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Oneil Cruz broke out of a slump with three hits, rookie Jared Jones allowed one run in six innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates ended their skid at six games, beating Milwaukee 4-2 on Monday night to stop the Brewers’ four-game win streak.
Cruz capped a three-run sixth with a two-out, two-run single. He also singled in the second and dropped a double into right-center in the fourth. The 6-foot-7 shortstop was 4 for 44 in his previous 12 games.
“You look at the base hit that Cruzy got, that ended up being the game-winning base hit, the left-on-left ... we put the ball in play,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. “We moved the ball forward. It’s something that we have not been doing. ... Overall, I was really happy with our offensive approach.”
Jones (2-2) gave up four hits and two walks. The 22-year-old struck out seven and has 39 strikeouts to become the fourth major league pitcher since 1893 to strike out at least seven in his first five starts, joining Masahiro Tanaka (2014), Stephen Strasburg (2010) and José DeLeón (1983).