Brewers winning pitcher Yovani Gallardo pulled Snell's elevated pitch into the left-field seats, providing for the only run in a 1-0 Brewers victory, sending the Pirates to yet another loss at Miller Park.

The Pirates have dropped 15 consecutive to the Brewers and leave town with an 18-game losing streak in Milwaukee, matching the club's longest losing streak at a road ballpark in 69 years. The Pirates also lost 18 consecutive games in Cincinnati from 1939-40.

Gallardo (3-1) allowed only two hits over eight innings while striking out a career-high 11 and walking one, as the surging Brewers swept the three-game series.

The Pirates managed only Andy LaRoche's double in the fifth after Gallardo retired the first 14 batters and Robinzon Diaz's double in the eighth. No runner advanced past second base for the short-handed Pirates , who were shutout for the second time this season.

In their final 43 at-bats of the series, the Pirates hit 0.70 (3 for 43), while drawing one walk.

"He pitched a great game," Pirates manager John Russell said of Gallardo. "Ian matched him up until the one inning.

"But it was a great game. We played very well. We just couldn't get any hits."

The Brewers' Carlos Villanueva pitched a perfect ninth inning, striking out the Pirates' Adam LaRoche to end the game and secure his second save.

"I'll be fast," Brewers manager and Latrobe resident Ken Macha said, jokingly. "Hitting? Gallardo. Pitching? Gallardo. Any questions?"

The Pirates' slump in Milwaukee is head-shaking. No team in the majors has lost more consecutive games at an opposing ballpark since the Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays 19 straight from 1978-81.

The Pirates , who return to play the Cincinnati Reds on Friday at PNC Park, get another shot at the Brewers next week.

Milwaukee, which has won seven of its past eight games after a 4-9 start, play a two-game series beginning Monday at PNC Park. Paul Maholm and Snell are the Pirates' scheduled starters.

The Pirates don't return to Milwaukee until Aug. 28-30, when they can try to end a Miller Park skid dating to early May 2007.

"They've got our number," Snell said. "That's all I can say."

Using a mid-90s fastball and a slider, Snell (1-2) matched Gallardo through six scoreless innings.

But with one out in the seventh, he threw the fateful slider on an 0-2 pitch, and Gallardo knocked it out for his second home run this year and the fourth of his career -- the most by a Brewers pitcher.

"Ian continued to battle," Russell said. "He seemed to be stronger as the game went on. It was just one of those games. ... We did everything today, except we faced a buzzsaw today."

Snell, who allowed five hits and walked four in seven innings, shattered his previous career-high pitch count of 120. He gets an extra day of rest this week because of today's off day, so Russell left him in longer than usual. Snell still was throwing 94-95 mph when his pitch count was in the 120s.

"I was training for this for three months before the season," he said. "I'm in better shape than I have been.

"It doesn't matter how many pitches; I would have stayed out there and tried to battle."

How they scored

With one out, Yovani Gallardo homered to left (No. 2) on an 0-2 pitch.

Brewers 1, Pirates 0