MILWAUKEE -- There was nothing overly elaborate about Stephen Brault's game plan against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night, but he executed it flawlessly.

Brault held Milwaukee to just one hit over six scoreless innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates snapped a five-game losing streak with a 7-0 victory at Miller Park.

"It felt pretty similar to Indianapolis," said Brault, referring to the Pirates' Triple-A affiliate where he went 10-5 with a 1.94 ERA and was named the International League's Pitcher of the year. "Having (catcher Elias) Diaz back there, we had the same idea: We're going to go after these guys with fastballs until they hit it.

"And basically, that's what we stuck with the whole game. We mixed in some off-speed, but for the most part it was let's attack and see what we can do."

Milwaukee couldn't do anything with Brault's fastball, helping him record his first major-league win. He was perfect through his first three innings and didn't allow a baserunner until Ryan Braun drew a two-out walk in the fourth.

Jesus Aguilar led off the fifth with a single but by then the Pirates were already in control thanks to home runs from Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte.

McCutchen gave Brault a cushion before he threw his first pitch, ripping a two-run home run in the first inning off Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff.

A Brault double set the stage for Marte's two-run blast in the fifth inning, and Jordy Mercer got in on the act with a solo shot in the eighth inning off reliever Jacob Barnes.

"Tonight, we got off to a quick start and we followed that up with some hard contact," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "From the top to the bottom of the lineup we had some consistent, quality swings."

Brault (1-0) finished with two hits on the day, including a two-run single with the bases loaded in the sixth inning.

"This was a fun game for us to watch him go out and compete on both sides of the ball," Hurdle said.

Woodruff (1-2) had been solid in his first four big league starts, posting a 1.52 ERA, but after dominating the Washington Nationals in his last outing, he never quite found a rhythm against the Pirates. He was charged with six runs on seven hits but walked only one while striking out three over five-plus innings.

"It's baseball. It happens," Woodruff said. "You can't be perfect every pitch. Yeah, I thought I settled in there in the middle of the game, got a lot of ground balls and tried to give the team a chance. In the sixth inning, they got to me at the end. It happens."

The Brewers would add two more hits off Pittsburgh's bullpen, but couldn't move a runner into scoring position.

"We ran into a good pitcher," third baseman Travis Shaw said. "He controlled his fastball on both sides of the plate and shut our offense down. That's what happened today. He pitched really well.

"I feel like we were flat in Cincinnati. I don't feel like we were flat tonight. We just ran into a good pitcher."

The loss was painful for Milwaukee, which had climbed to within two games of the National League Central lead with a weekend sweep of the front-running Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Chicago was idle Monday, leaving the Brewers in third place, 2 1/2 games behind the Cubs and a half-game back of idle St. Louis, which slid into second place.

"There was not much good that happened tonight," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "We didn't get anything going against Brault. His fastball was a really effective pitch. It was sneaky and got on our hitters. He throws a lot of fastballs, but it's a good pitch. It was a frustrating day. There was never any point where we got anything good started."

NOTES: Brewers manager Craig Counsell said there have been positive reports from Miami and expects to face the Marlins there this weekend, as scheduled, despite the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. ... Counsell was not ready to name a starter to replace Jimmy Nelson (shoulder) for the Wednesday game. ... Pirates RHP Joaquin Benoit left the team to attend to a family issue in the Dominican Republic, manager Clint Hurdle said. ... Hurdle had not yet announced starters for the Pirates' weekend series at Cincinnati and said he is considering skipping RHP Chad Kuhl's next turn in the rotation. ... The Pirates have shut out Milwaukee twice this season.