The nerves weren’t quite so bad this time. The jitters Elgton Jenkins Jersey , a touch less.

The stuff? Well, that didn’t change a bit for Milwaukee rookie pitcher Freddy Peralta. The 22-year-old handcuffed the Pittsburgh Pirates over six shutout innings and the Brewers held on for a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night.

Peralta (2-0) struck out seven without issuing a walk in his third career start, looking very much like the kid who tied a franchise record by striking out 13 in his major league debut last month. The Brewers sent him down to the minors after his second start to work on his control and he appeared to be firmly in command against the Pirates.

”It was normal, you know,” Peralta said. ”It’s always, work, you know? I was comfortable today with everything: my pitches, the guys behind me, everything.”

Jesus Aguilar finished 2 for 3 and drove in all three runs off Jameson Taillon (4-6). Aguilar hit a two-run shot to the seats in right-center in the first and doubled down the line in left field in the third.

”It was important, especially for Peralta, to just give him a lead right away. That way he feels confident,” Aguilar said.

Corey Knebel worked around a two-out walk in the ninth for his seventh save for the first-place Brewers Jace Sternberger Jersey , who ended a three-game losing streak.

Starling Marte hit his ninth home run of the season in the eighth off Milwaukee reliever Jeremy Jeffress to pull Pittsburgh with one. Jordy Mercer had an RBI double in the seventh but Pittsburgh’s offense mustered little with Peralta on the mound.

The 22-year-old attacked the Pirates high in the strike zone and threw 62 of his 99 pitches for strikes. Only Marte seemed able to generate solid contact. He reached second in the first when Milwaukee right fielder Eric Thames couldn’t handle a drive that bounced off his glove near the wall.

Peralta retired Moran on a lineout and settled in.

”He made pitches,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. ”Kept us off balance with the curveball. Attacked. Very aggressive. Good downhill angle from a guy who’s not tall in stature. He pitched a lot taller than he was height-wise, and got after it.”

Taillon, coming off a solid outing in a win in Arizona last week, had plenty of swing-and-miss stuff – he recorded seven strikeouts in five innings – but had no answer for Aguilar. Lorenzo Cain led off the game with an infield single and two batters later Aguilar put one in the seats to put Milwaukee up 2-0.

”Jesus is a good hitter,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. ”He’s been a good hitter since the day we got him. I think he’s improving. He’s a hitter that understands pitching. He understands what they’re trying to do to him. He’s got experience now against the league a little bit. The league’s kind of adjusted to him and he’s been able to adjust back.”

A nearly identical sequence happened in the third. Cain reached on an infield hit and Aguilar laced the ball to left with Cain easily beating the throw home.

”Both times hanging breaking balls to Aguilar after an infield hit, he did what he should have done with them,” Taillon said.

OH SAY CAN YOU SEE

Pirates reliever Steven Brault moonlights as the front man in a rock band called The Street Gypsies. He found himself in front of a microphone on Tuesday night, only this time the audience wasn’t a night club but PNC Park. The 26-year-old belted out “The Star-Spangled Banner” before first pitch, delivering on a promise he made to his grandmother.

”I think it went pretty well,” Brault said. ”I was a little more nervous than I thought I would be leading into it. I was fine, and then when I started singing Dexter Williams Jersey , I was like `Oh, this is pretty cool.”’

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers: RHP Zach Davies (right rotator cuff inflammation) was scheduled to make a rehab start for Triple-A Colorado Springs on Tuesday night.

Pirates: OF Austin Meadows was held out of the starting lineup for a second straight game while dealing with a right foot injury suffered when he fouled a ball off it on Sunday. Meadows entered as a pinch hitter in the seventh and struck out to end the inning with runners on second and third.

UP NEXT

Brewers: Brent Suter will make his first career start against the Pirates in the series finale on Wednesday. Suter is 5-1 with a 3.24 ERA in his last six starts and 7-4 with a 4.30 ERA overall.

Pirates: Chad Kuhl (5-3, 3.76) is unbeaten against Milwaukee, going 3-0 with a 1.91 ERA. The Pirates are 6-0 overall in games Kuhl has started against the Brewers.

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Another attempt at a no-hitter, a reliever alternating between the mound and first base, and postgame pushing and shoving.

The Tampa Bay Rays pulled off an odd one for their fifth straight victory.

Nathan Eovaldi took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before an unusual combination of relievers in the ninth completed a three-hitter as the Rays beat Max Scherzer and the Washington Nationals 1-0 Tuesday.

Eovaldi (2-3) lost his no-hit bid when Bryce Harper hit an opposite-field double off the left-field wall with two outs in the sixth. The right-hander, who struck out nine, walked two and hit a batter over six innings, was making his sixth start since returning from a second Tommy John surgery in August 2016.

However, it was the ninth inning that stole the spotlight.

After Diego Castillo went two innings, lefty Jose Alvarado began the ninth by walking Harper before moving to first base when Chaz Roe relieved him. Roe struck out Anthony Rendon before Alvarado returned to the mound and gave up singles to lefties Juan Soto and Daniel Murphy that loaded the bases.

”We wanted to get our best matchups possible,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. ”The gamble Rock Ya-Sin Jersey , I guess, was hoping that nobody hit a ground ball to first.”

Sergio Romo replaced Alvarado and got his sixth save by getting Trea Turner to fly out and Michael A. Taylor to strike out.

”I was a little jealous that it wasn’t me going out and playing a position,” Romo said.

Alvarado declined to talk to reporters after the game.

There was a brief scrum near the mound after Taylor struck out when Romo exchanged words with the Washington outfielder, who had stolen second in the sixth inning of the Nationals’ 11-2 over Tampa Bay on June 6.

”I don’t disrespect anybody on that team other than the person that I felt disrespected me and my team,” Romo said.

Said Taylor: ”I understand the situation. Obviously they think different but I’m not worried about that. The talking and things like that, I’m not big on drama.”

Nationals manager Dave Martinez said Romo’s unhappiness was misdirected.

”If he gets mad, he should get mad at me, but don’t show up one of our players,” Martinez said.

Tampa Bay’s Blake Snell took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of the Rays’ 11-0 rout of the Nationals on Monday night. Washington finished that game with two hits.

Scherzer (10-4) gave up one run, four hits, three walks and struck out four in seven innings for the Nationals, who have lost nine of 12. The three-time Cy Young Award winner has lost three straight decisions for the first time since August 2015.

The Rays took both games of the series with Washington on the heels of a three-game sweep last weekend over the New York Yankees http://www.clevelandbrownsteamonline.com/anthony-zettel-jersey , who have the best record in the majors.

Tampa Bay is 7-5 during a stretch of 16 games against the Yankees, Nationals and Houston Astros.

Tampa Bay went up 1-0 in the first when Kevin Kiermaier singled, advanced to third on Matt Duffy’s base hit during a 10-pitch at-bat and scored on Jake Bauers‘ grounder.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Nationals: RHP Jeremy Hellickson (strained right hamstring) had a 30-pitch bullpen session, which could the final step before rejoining the rotation.

Rays: RHP Chris Archer (left abdominal strain) remains on schedule for a three-inning simulated game Thursday and could be back around the All-Star break.

FUN TIMES

Rays OF Mallex Smith was doing a live TV interview wearing a buffalo hat – honoring teammate Wilson Ramos, the leading vote-getter for AL All-Star starting catcher – when Tampa Bay OF Carlos Gomez got Smith in the face with a shaving cream pie.

MORE HIGH JINKS

As Harper walked to the plate in the first inning, Frank Sinatra’s ”New York, New York” played over the Tropicana Field sound system for the potential free agent after this season. In the sixth, the musical selection was Sinatra’s ”Chicago.”

UP NEXT

Nationals: Washington has not announced its rotation for a four-game series at Philadelphia that begins Thursday night.

Rays: RHP Ryne Stanek (1-1) wil start the first of a four-game set Thursday night with Houston.

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