Civale pitches 6 shutout innings, Ortiz has 3 hits in Brewers' 5-2 win over Pirates

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Civale pitched six scoreless innings in his last start before the postseason and Joey Ortiz was a home run short of the cycle as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 on Thursday.

Civale (8-9) allowed three hits, struck out five and walked one. He is 6-1 with a 2.57 ERA in his last nine starts.

“He just continues to impress me as a pitcher,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “In this day and age to see a pitcher like that … he had pinpoint control today.”

Ortiz, a rookie third baseman, tripled in third inning and came home on Brice Turang’s ground out to open the scoring. Ortiz also doubled in a run in the sixth to increase the Brewers’ lead to 5-0.

The National League Central champion Brewers will open a best-of-three NL Wild Card Series at home starting next Tuesday. They finish the regular season by hosting the contending New York Mets in a three-game series that begins Friday night.

Murphy would not commit to having Civale start in the wild-card round but sounded like he is leaning that way.

“I think the fact he’s got some years under his belt,” Murphy said. “He does provide an answer to navigate some innings against any kind of hitters. I think there’s a case for him for sure.”

Civale is just happy to be headed to the postseason after being acquired from Tampa Bay on July 3 in a trade.

“Everything has been good about it,” Civale said of being with the Brewers. “I’m just fortunate to have the opportunity here. I’m just enjoying the ride and taking it start by start.”

The Brewers have won five of their last seven games and went 46-35 on the road this season.

Blake Perkins and Gary Sanchez had two hits each for the Brewers and Turang drove in two runs. Devin Williams pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 14th save in 15 opportunities.

Mitch Keller (11-12) lost his final start of the year, giving up three runs and six hits in five innings in the Pirates’ home finale. After the All-Star break, Keller went 1-7 with a 5.65 ERA in 12 starts.

“Up and down, up and down,” Keller said of his season. “There’s definitely a lot of highlights up there and definitely a lot of lowlights. But overall, a lot of good things to look back on and a lot of things to keep working for. I don’t know, it’s weird. I’m happy with it and also disappointed in some areas too.”

Eric Haase doubled in a run in the fifth inning then scored on Turang’s single to make it 3-0. Milwaukee added to the lead in the sixth on RBI doubles by Perkins and Ortiz.

Bryan De La Cruz broke up the Brewers’ shutout bid with a two-run home run in the seventh inning off Nick Mears, but the Pirates lost for the ninth time in 13 games. They finished with a 39-42 home record.

Nick Gonzales had two hits for the Pirates.

The Pirates had a season attendance of 1,720,321, nearly 100,000 more than last year and their best mark since 2017. Much of the attendance spike was attributable to the emergence of rookie pitcher Paul Skenes.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers: Mears (right forearm inflammation) was activated from the 15-day injured list and RHP Kevin Herget was optioned to Triple-A Nashville.

UP NEXT

Brewers: RHP Frankie Montas (7-11, 4.85) will start Friday night for Milwaukee while the Mets are undecided on a pitcher after being rained out Wednesday and Thursday in Atlanta.

Pirates: RHP Jared Jones (6-8, 4.14) will start the opener of a three-game series Friday night in New York against Yankees LHP Carlos Rodon (16-9, 3.98).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller delivers during the second inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Bryan De La Cruz (41) is greeted by Nick Gonzales after hitting a two-run home run off Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Nick Mears during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton, left, welcomes Bryan De La Cruz (41) back to the dugout after hitting a two-run home off Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Nick Mears during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Nick Mears delivers during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton stands on the dugout steps during the second inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Liover Peguero has a double hit by Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz bounce off his glove during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz (3) slides safely into third ahead of the relay throw to Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa with a triple off starting pitcher Mitch Keller during the third inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz celebrates as he stands on third base after hitting a triple off Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller during the third inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz (3) doubles off Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Colin Holderman, driving in a run, during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Aaron Civale delivers during the second inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Aaron Civale delivers during the second inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

NEW YORK (AP) — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.

Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.

Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump's second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.

“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.

About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.

Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.

The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.

Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.

In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump's proposal.

“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives," the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.

Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers' hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.

The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.

Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.

"A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels," said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry's impact of Trump's proposal last year.

There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer's research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.

The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."

Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.

Hours before Trump's post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.

Seung Min Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, Jan. 9, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - Visa and Mastercard credit cards are shown in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)