WILLIAMS LOWERS 2ND-HALF ERA TO 1.19 IN WIN

PIRATES IMPROVE TO 11-5 THIS SEASON AGAINST THE BREWERS

Pirates right-hander Trevor Williams enjoyed a rare weekend with his father and both of his younger brothers, Trent and Tanner, who made the trip to watch him pitch.

Williams did not disappoint, as the Pirates held on for a 3-2 win over the Brewers on Sunday afternoon at Miller Park. He pitched six scoreless innings to improve to 13-9 on the season. Pittsburgh improved to 8-3 over its last 11 games and is now 11-5 against the Brewers with one three-game series remaining this season, which starts on Friday at PNC Park.

It was easy for Williams to smile after asserting himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball in the second half of the season. He held the Brewers to two hits while walking two and fanning seven.

Williams lowered his ERA since the All-Star break to 1.19 (eight earned runs in 60 2/3 innings), which is the best in the Majors among pitchers with at least 50 innings. He has two scoreless streaks of 20-plus innings this season and is building a new scoreless streak at 7 1/3 innings.

Remarkably, Williams has pitched six-plus innings without allowing a run in nine starts this year. That is the most by a Pirates pitcher since at least 1908, according to the team.

Williams has not given up a run in 13 innings against the Brewers this season and picked up his first career victory at Miller Park.

Corey Dickerson went 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI to lead the Pirates at the plate, while rookie Kevin Newman finished 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs.

The Pirates improved to 74-74 with 14 games left in the regular season.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

The Pirates' 3-0 lead quickly shrunk to 3-2 when closer Felipe Vazquez allowed back-to-back homers to lead off the ninth inning. Hurdle decided to stick with Vazquez, who rewarded him by retiring Ryan Braun, Mike Moustakas and Erik Kratz for his 34th save.

SOUND SMART

Pirates first baseman Josh Bell had his seven-game hitting streak come to an end on Sunday, but he drew a pair of walks to increase his on-base streak to eight games. Bell is hitting .385 (10-for-26) with a .515 on-base percentage and 1.246 OPS during that span.

TRAINER’S ROOM

PIRATES: C Elias Diaz (right hamstring) could return to action as soon as Monday against Kansas City. Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage is scheduled to undergo cervical neck surgery this week. Justin Meccage will serve as interim pitching coach.

BREWERS: Manager Craig Counsell says he’s not concerned with Chacin’s workload, which now stands at 178 innings. With two more projected starts this season, Chacin will finish just shy of his career high of 197 1/3 innings in 2013.

UP NEXT

PIRATES: RHP Joe Musgrove (6-9, 3.87 ERA) leads Pittsburgh into an interleague matchup with the Kansas City Royals.

BREWERS: Wade Miley (4-2, 2.23) gets the nod to begin a three-game series with Cincinnati.