PITTSBURGH -- The Brewers began Friday night by playing three of their poorest innings of the season, but wound up winning with a little bit of magic.Kyle Lohse covered the Brewers' defensive bumbles with 6 1/3 quality innings, and Carlos Gomez hit a long home run, but this will mostly be remembered as the night Martin Maldonado literally knocked the cover off the baseball in a 5-3 win over the Pirates at PNC Park.Maldonado's hit came straight off the sandlot in the sixth inning, a bouncer to third base that might have been mundane had the baseball not broken at the seams before it reached Pedro Alvarez's glove. Maldonado was safe, everybody had a good laugh, and it led to a Brewers run when Gomez followed with an infield hit of his own for a 5-2 lead. 
The Brewers' other runs were much more routine. Scooter Gennett's two-run double and Maldonado's RBI single in the fourth inning turned a two-run deficit into a 3-2 lead, and Gomez made it 4-2 in the fifth with a monstrous home run that struck high off the batter's eye in straightaway center field. It was his team-best fifth home run this season.Milwaukee's bats did enough to support Lohse, who improved to 11-2 lifetime against the Pirates by limiting the damage to three runs (one earned) on four hits in 6 1/3 innings, with three walks and five strikeouts.He had precious little help from Brewers defenders -- beginning with the Pirates' very first batter, Starling Marte, who hit a popup next to the pitcher's mound. Third baseman Aramis Ramirez and first baseman Mark Reynolds converged, then collided, with Reynolds charged with the first of four Brewers errors. Marte promptly stole second base and scampered to third when Maldonado's throw sailed wide for another error, and scored on Russell Martin's groundout.The Brewers bobbled some more in the third inning. With two runners aboard, Martin hit an RBI single to center field, where Gomez initially missed it. He recovered and threw toward third base, seemingly in time to catch the lead runner, but shortstop Jean Segura tried to cut it off and catch Martin sneaking to second. Instead, Segura botched the catch, and both runners were safe.Lohse recovered by striking out Pedro Alvarez and inducing a Neil Walker pop-out, then kept the Pirates off the scoreboard until the seventh, when another Brewers error -- charged to Segura after a wild throw -- led to another unearned Pirates run. Clint Barmes scored on Andrew McCutchen's two-out double off Brewers reliever Tyler Thornburg, snapping Thornburg's streak of 21 consecutive batters retired.With the tying run in scoring position, another Brewers reliever, left-hander Will Smith, caught Alvarez looking at a nasty breaking ball for Strike 3, preserving Milwaukee's two-run lead. Jim Henderson preserved the same lead in the eighth by getting Marte to pop out with the bases loaded, and Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.Adam McCalvy / MLB.com
The Brewers' other runs were much more routine. Scooter Gennett's two-run double and Maldonado's RBI single in the fourth inning turned a two-run deficit into a 3-2 lead, and Gomez made it 4-2 in the fifth with a monstrous home run that struck high off the batter's eye in straightaway center field. It was his team-best fifth home run this season.Milwaukee's bats did enough to support Lohse, who improved to 11-2 lifetime against the Pirates by limiting the damage to three runs (one earned) on four hits in 6 1/3 innings, with three walks and five strikeouts.He had precious little help from Brewers defenders -- beginning with the Pirates' very first batter, Starling Marte, who hit a popup next to the pitcher's mound. Third baseman Aramis Ramirez and first baseman Mark Reynolds converged, then collided, with Reynolds charged with the first of four Brewers errors. Marte promptly stole second base and scampered to third when Maldonado's throw sailed wide for another error, and scored on Russell Martin's groundout.The Brewers bobbled some more in the third inning. With two runners aboard, Martin hit an RBI single to center field, where Gomez initially missed it. He recovered and threw toward third base, seemingly in time to catch the lead runner, but shortstop Jean Segura tried to cut it off and catch Martin sneaking to second. Instead, Segura botched the catch, and both runners were safe.Lohse recovered by striking out Pedro Alvarez and inducing a Neil Walker pop-out, then kept the Pirates off the scoreboard until the seventh, when another Brewers error -- charged to Segura after a wild throw -- led to another unearned Pirates run. Clint Barmes scored on Andrew McCutchen's two-out double off Brewers reliever Tyler Thornburg, snapping Thornburg's streak of 21 consecutive batters retired.With the tying run in scoring position, another Brewers reliever, left-hander Will Smith, caught Alvarez looking at a nasty breaking ball for Strike 3, preserving Milwaukee's two-run lead. Jim Henderson preserved the same lead in the eighth by getting Marte to pop out with the bases loaded, and Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.Adam McCalvy / MLB.com
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