Pirates blast Brewers, close in on Cards

PITTSBURGH A few hours before Saturday’s game, manager Clint Hurdle said the Pittsburgh Pirates, currently possessing a surplus of starting pitchers, plan to use a five-man rotation down the September stretch.

They already “have a good idea” who the five will be, he said. Who’s the odd man out? Wait and see.

The simplest solution, it seemed, would be to ship Jeff Locke to the bullpen. No matter the metric win/loss record, ERA, WHIP, FIP, you name it the left-hander has been the caboose of this Pirates staff.

Perhaps he heard the whispers. Locke (8-10) was effective and, at times, electric in a 10-2 win Saturday night at rainy PNC Park. He held the Milwaukee Brewers (62-80) to three hits and a run in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out seven hitters and issued two walks, both in his last inning.

The patient Pirates offense collected eight walks and 11 hits, none bigger than Michael Morse’s pinch-hit, opposite-field grand slam with one out in the seventh. Morse roped left-hander Cesar Jiminez 3-1 outside fastball just over the Clemente Wall for the Pirates’ second grand slam this week.

The St. Louis Cardinals lost twice Saturday, falling to 2-8 in their past 10 games, so the Pirates (85-56) are 2.5 games back of the NL Central division lead for the first time since the All-Star break. They haven’t been closer since late April.

Josh Harrison, thrust into the lineup late with Starling Marte battling the stomach flu, went 4 for 4, tying a career-high for hits, and reached base five times. He singled three times, doubled, walked and scored twice.

Aramis Ramirez hit run-scoring doubles in consecutive innings, the third and the fourth.

The Pirates pounded Brewers rookie right-hander Zach Davies (1-1) in a five-run third and chased him after just 3 2/3 innings. In his third major league start, Davies gave up six hits, five walks and five runs to earn his first career loss. Of his 79 pitches, 40 were balls.

Davies, 22, debuted in a 9-4 Pirates loss Sept. 4 and allowed four runs in 4 1/3 innings. In his next start, Davies pitched seven innings of one-run ball against the Miami Marlins to earn his first win. Saturday, he dug himself into a big hole early, and his offense offered little help.

By the third, the rookie’s luck had worn thin. He walked Gregory Polanco leading off, already his third free pass of the night, and the next five hitters also reached base safely. Andrew McCutchen, Ramirez, Francisco Cervelli and Jordy Mercer all drove in runs in the inning as the Pirates jumped out to a 5-0 lead.

They added another in the fourth on Ramirez’s second RBI double.

Over his first six innings, Locke allowed just two base runners doubles by Domingo Santana and Kyle Lohse. Locke caught a bad break on the first play of the sixth, as he took Pedro Alvarez’s underhand feed at first but couldn’t beat Ryan Braun to the bag. Locke sandwiched his only walks of the night around a strikeout, and he departed with the bases loaded.

Reliever Jared Hughes escaped the jam after one run scored on Luis Sardinas’ sacrifice fly.

Morse came off the bench in the seventh and blew the game open with the Pirates’ first pinch-hit grand slam since Travis Snider hit one May 21, 2013, against the Chicago Cubs. It was Morse’s first hit since Sept. 4.

Third-string catcher Elias Diaz made his major league debut in the eighth, pinch-hitting for Neil Walker, and flied out to left.

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