MILWAUKEE (Interstat) — Paul Skenes pitched seven innings of one-hit ball, striking out seven, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-0 on Friday night at American Family Field.

Skenes allowed only a seventh-inning single to Jake Bauers, the lone hit for Milwaukee, and did not walk a batter. He retired the first 10 Brewers he faced and faced the minimum through four innings. The right-hander improved to 4-1, lowering his ERA to 1.80 in his past three starts.

Konnor Griffin provided the early offense with a solo home run in the third inning and added a two-run single in the eighth as the Pirates scored a run in each of the third through sixth innings before breaking the game open with two in the eighth.

Milwaukee starter Brandon Woodruff took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits over five innings with three strikeouts and two walks. Woodruff fell to 2-1.

The Pirates, who had lost three of their previous four games, improved to 15-11. The Brewers dropped to 13-12 after losing two straight.

Pittsburgh struck first in the third inning. With one out, Griffin drove a 2-1 pitch from Woodruff over the right-center field wall for his first home run of the season. Henry Davis followed with a sharp single to center, but Oneil Cruz grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The Pirates added another run in the fourth. Brandon Lowe led off with a double to right, his fifth of the year. Bryan Reynolds walked, and after Marcell Ozuna flied out, Ryan O’Hearn popped out. Nick Gonzales then singled to left, scoring Lowe. Reynolds was thrown out at second trying to advance on the throw home, ending the inning.

In the fifth, Pittsburgh made it 3-0. Spencer Horwitz walked, and Griffin singled to right, moving Horwitz to third. Davis grounded out to shortstop, and then Cruz reached on a fielder’s choice as Horwitz scored on the play. Griffin advanced to third, but Lowe popped out and Reynolds flied out to shortstop to strand him.

The Pirates extended the lead to 4-0 in the sixth off reliever Shane Drohan. O’Hearn led off with a double to right. After Gonzales flied out, Horwitz singled to center, driving in O’Hearn. Griffin lined out to end the inning.

Milwaukee’s best chance came in the seventh against Skenes. Bauers singled to center on a ground ball with two outs, but Tyler Black flied out to center to end the inning. Skenes exited after seven innings, having thrown 89 pitches.

The Pirates broke the game open in the eighth against Drohan. Reynolds struck out, Ozuna lined out, but O’Hearn singled to shortstop. Gonzales reached on a throwing error by shortstop David Hamilton, putting runners at first and second. Horwitz then reached on a fielding error by first baseman Bauers, loading the bases. Griffin singled to center, scoring O’Hearn and Gonzales and making it 6-0. Davis popped out to end the inning.

Mason Montgomery and Isaac Mattson each pitched a scoreless inning of relief for Pittsburgh. Montgomery worked a 1-2-3 eighth with one strikeout, and Mattson pitched the ninth, allowing a walk to Brice Turang but striking out one and getting William Contreras to fly out to end the game.

The game lasted 2 hours, 19 minutes before a crowd of 33,339.

For Pittsburgh, O’Hearn finished 2 for 4 with a double and two runs scored. Horwitz went 1 for 3 with a walk and an RBI. Gonzales was 1 for 4 with an RBI. Lowe was 1 for 5 with a double.

For Milwaukee, Bauers had the only hit. The Brewers struck out 10 times and did not have a runner reach scoring position until the ninth inning.

The Pirates took the opener of a three-game series. The teams continue the set Saturday, with Pittsburgh right-hander Mitch Keller scheduled to face Milwaukee right-hander Aaron Civale. The Pirates then return home for a four-game series against St. Louis starting Monday. The Brewers host Arizona for three games starting Tuesday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Pittsburgh 5, Milwaukee 4. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Milwaukee with a 63.20 percent probability to win. Pittsburgh had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5 runs. The total score of 6 went over the over/under line of 7.