PITTSBURGH -- Sometimes the best moves a major league manager makes are the ones he didn't plan to make. As evidenced by Matt Joyce's huge night for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Joyce, added to Pittsburgh's lineup shortly before game time, hit a three-run home run in the first inning and drove in four runs, and the Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3 Thursday night.

Joyce was penciled in about 20 minutes before the game started by manager Clint Hurdle when Starling Marte developed flu-like symptoms. He promptly homered off Matt Garza.

Joyce admittedly felt a bit rushed to get ready to play so quickly.

"I tried to take some deep breaths and slow myself down and slow the game down (before the first at-bat)," he said. "Fortunately, (Garza) made a mistake there, and I was able to capitalize."

Garza, sidelined much of the first half of the season with a lat injury, ran a fastball "two inches" toward the inside of the plate, and Joyce powered it into the right field seats.

"I've been searching for my arm strength, searching for my breaking stuff, and tonight I had it all -- I had a curveball, I had a good slider and a good changeup, (but) I waited too long to go soft early," Garza said. "And I paid for it."

Garza (1-4) left after giving up five runs, four earned, and eight hits in five innings.

Joyce added a run-scoring grounder in the third as the Pirates built a 5-1 lead for Francisco Liriano (6-9). The left-hander struck out a season-high 13 and walked none in 6 1/3 innings. Liriano, who gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits, had won only once in eight starts since May 24.

"I thought he had great stuff -- that's the best we've seen him in a while," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "Any time he fell behind, his off-speed (stuff) was good in the strike zone, and his fastball was plus -- 95 (mph) and a couple of 96s."

Gregory Polanco had a pair of hits and scored twice for the Pirates, who took two of three in the series. Pittsburgh has won 12 of 17.

Liriano breezed through the first six innings, giving up only Jonathan Villar's solo homer in the third. He left during a two-run seventh keyed by Hernan Perez's RBI double and Liriano's throwing error, which led to Scooter Gennett's run-scoring grounder.

"I threw all of my pitches -- I tried not to do too much, and (to) execute pitches, take it one pitch at a time, one hitter at a time," Liriano said. "I've been trying to be more consistent with my delivery, and that's the only thing I was working on (between starts)."

Milwaukee, which lost for the sixth time in eight games, threatened in the eighth by getting the first two runners on, but Tony Watson overcame the second throwing error by a Pirates pitcher in as many innings to get out of the jam.

Mark Melancon then pitched the ninth for his 28th save in 31 chances, bouncing back after blowing successive save opportunities Sunday and Tuesday.

Joyce was inserted into the Pirates' lineup shortly before Liriano threw the opening pitch -- and he needed mere minutes to make a substantial impact.

Garza walked Polanco and Andrew McCutchen with one out in the first. Joyce, one of the NL's top pinch hitters this season and a solid producer as a spot starter, then hit his ninth homer.

"A three-run homer is a big blow and it's going to ruin any outing, really, especially in the first inning," Counsell said. "(He) has to get better, but it felt like tonight it was one or two pitches (that hurt him)."

Just like that, it was 3-0, and the tone was set as Liriano outpitched Garza in a matchup of one-time aces stuck in not-going-well seasons.

Villar, the catalyst of Milwaukee's 9-5 win Wednesday night, put the Brewers on the board with his seventh homer -- a solo drive with two outs in the third. However, Liriano mostly cruised after that in arguably his best start since pitching six shutout innings in a season-opening game against St. Louis on April 3.

The Pirates got that run back in the bottom half of the fourth on Joyce's fourth RBI, on a force-play grounder that came after Polanco singled, moved to second on the play on right fielder Perez's error and to third on McCutchen's single.

Pirates rookie Adam Frazier, leading off for the first time in his fifth major league start, singled home a run in the fourth.

NOTES: Brewers C Jonathan Lucroy was given a scheduled day off Thursday despite driving in three runs Wednesday. He appeared as a pinch hitter Thursday and grounded into a fielder's choice.. ... The Pirates showed off a different batting order, with rookie 2B Adam Frazier leading off for the first time and 1B John Jaso hitting sixth. Jaso had led off in all but one of his previous 68 starts. ... Brewers minor league RHP Adrian Houser underwent Tommy John surgery and will be out at least a year. Houston's second-round pick in the 2011 draft, Houser was one of four players acquired when the Brewers dealt CF Carlos Gomez and RHP Mike Fiers to the Astros last July 30. ... The Pirates open a three-game series Friday against the Philadelphia Phillies, the only National League opponent that has yet to play in PNC Park this season. ... The Brewers return home to face the Chicago Cubs on Friday.