MILWAUKEE (AP) — Kyle Harrison collected a career-high 12 strikeouts and allowed just one hit and one walk in six scoreless innings as the Milwaukee Brewers avoided a sweep by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-0 on Sunday.
The Pirates were attempting to complete a sweep in Milwaukee for the first time since winning four straight games here in August 2016. The Pirates’ last sweep of the Brewers came August 2022 at Pittsburgh.
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Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers (9) points a small boy back to the stands after signing an autograph before the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Pittsburgh Pirates designated hitter Marcell Ozuna loses his bat after fouling off a pitch during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers' Luis Rengifo (13) hits a two run double in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Kyle Harrison throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Kyle Harrison (52) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Pittsburgh’s only hits were Marcell Ozuna's single against Harrison (2-1) in the second and Nick Gonzales' double off Trevor Megill in the seventh. The Pirates struck out 18 times.
Jake Bauers hit two doubles for the Brewers, who snapped a four-game skid.
Milwaukee scored all its runs off Carmen Mlodzinski (1-2) in the fourth inning.
Mlodzinski held Milwaukee hitless until William Contreras capped a 10-pitch at-bat with a leadoff single in the fourth. Contreras advanced to third on Bauers’ ground-rule double and came home when Gary Sánchez bounced out to second.
Milwaukee then got three straight two-out hits to extend its lead to 5-0.
Bauers came home on Luis Rengifo’s single up the middle after Sal Frelick reached on catcher’s interference to keep the inning alive. David Hamilton doubled home Frelick, then Brandon Lockridge singled home Rengifo and Hamilton to knock Mlodzinski out of the game.
Pittsburgh loaded the bases in the eighth with two walks and an error, but Aaron Ashby ended the threat by retiring Bryan Reynolds on a grounder to second.
Milwaukee didn’t hit a homer for a seventh straight game. That represents the Brewers’ longest such drought since August 1999, when they went a franchise-record 13 consecutive games without a home run.
Pirates: Return home for a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals. The starting pitchers for Monday's series opener are St. Louis' Dustin May (3-2, 5.84 ERA) and Pittsburgh's Mason Montgomery (1-0, 3.97).
Brewers: Off Monday before starting a three-game home series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Chad Patrick (1-1, 2.35) pitches for Milwaukee on Tuesday. The Diamondbacks haven't named their starter.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers (9) points a small boy back to the stands after signing an autograph before the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Pittsburgh Pirates designated hitter Marcell Ozuna loses his bat after fouling off a pitch during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers' Luis Rengifo (13) hits a two run double in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Kyle Harrison throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Kyle Harrison (52) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Mali 's defense minister was killed in a sweeping attack by jihadis and rebels who seized several towns and military bases, authorities said Sunday, the latest violence in the junta-run country that has long battled militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group as well as a separatist rebellion in the north.
The Malian government confirmed the death of the defense chief, Gen. Sadio Camara, in a post on the defense ministry's Facebook page, and expressed its condolences to his family. State-run television also broadcast the announcement of his death by spokesman Gen. Issa Ousmane Coulibaly.
Mali was struck on Saturday by one of the biggest coordinated attacks on its army in the capital, Bamako, and several other cities and towns in an assault that also challenged Mali’s security partner, Russia, which has forces on the ground in the West African country.
The government said Sunday the attacks appear to be over, but several questions remain, including who was in control of a key northern city that the separatists claim to have taken.
The government has not provided a death toll from Saturday and previously said only that at least 16 people were wounded in what it denounced as terror attacks.
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali, while al-Qaida and IS-aligned militants have been fighting the government for over a decade.
According to the government statement, Camara's residence was targeted by a suicide car bomber and other attackers on Saturday.
“He engaged in an exchange of fire with the assailants, some of whom he managed to neutralize,” it said. "During intense clashes, he was wounded and then transported to the hospital, where he unfortunately succumbed to his injuries."
A spokesperson for the separatist Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA, said the Russian Africa Corps troops and the Malian military withdrew from the city of Kidal following the attack on Saturday, after an agreement was reached for their peaceful exit.
“Kidal is declared free,” said FLA spokesperson Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadan.
The Malian army did not respond to requests for comment on whether it had withdrawn from Kidal. An earlier statement said they were “tracking down terrorist armed groups in Kidal.”
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali.
Kidal had long served as a stronghold of the rebellion before being taken by Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries in 2023. Its capture marked a significant symbolic victory for the junta and its Russian allies.
Saturday's wave of attacks was the first time the separatists joined forces with the al-Qaida-linked group JNIM, which said it was also part of the attack on Kidal and had also targeted a town outside of the capital of Bamako and three other cities on Saturday.
The FLA spokesperson confirmed the coordinated push.
“This operation is being carried out in partnership with the JNIM, which is also committed to defending the people against the military regime in Bamako,” Ramadan said.
The separatists called on Russia to “reconsider its support for the military junta" in Mali, saying its "actions have contributed to the suffering of the civilian population.”
Wassim Nasr, a specialist for the region and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center security think tank, said this “coordination, conducting attacks all over the country at the same time,” the united push by the two groups and the call for the Russian military to leave was a first.
It extended beyond the military, he said, to the political level because both groups “acknowledged that they worked together.”
Following the attacks, a three-day overnight curfew, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., was also announced for the Bamako district.
Mali's government spokesperson, Coulibaly, said civilian and military personnel were among the 16 wounded and that several militants were killed. He did not provide a death toll.
The Economic Community of West African States condemned Saturday's attacks in Mali and called on “all states, security forces, regional mechanisms and populations of West Africa to unite and mobilize in a coordinated effort to combat this scourge.”
Following military coups, the juntas in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso turned from Western allies to Russia for help in combating Islamic militants.
But the security situation in the region has worsened in recent times, with a record number of attacks by militants. Government forces have also been accused of killing civilians they suspect of collaborating with militants.
In 2024, an al-Qaida-linked group claimed an attack on Bamako’s airport and a military training camp in the country's capital, killing scores of people.
Ulf Laessing, from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said that the separatists and JNIM are unlikely to take control of Bamako in the near term due to opposition from the local population.
Still, the attacks undermined the Malian junta's Russian partners.
“The attacks are a major blow to Russia as the mercenaries had no intelligence about the attacks and were unable to protect major cities,” Laessing said.
An ariel view of Bamako, Mali, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo)
