Hurdle happy to see vintage Liriano on display

PITTSBURGH — The results had been creeping in the right direction for Francisco Liriano this month, small but visible signs of progress. He limited the damage to three runs or less in back-to-back starts, then he completed six innings his last time out. But still, it wasn’t quite vintage Liriano.

There were too many walks and not enough strikeouts, too many long at-bats and not enough swinging strikes. Thursday night at PNC Park? That was more like it. The veteran left-hander struck out 13 and didn’t walk anyone over 6 2/3 innings, leading Pittsburgh to a 5-3 win over Milwaukee.

“He sure was [more like 2013-15] tonight,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “We’ll see what happens in the next start. I believe he’s got a good foundation to build off of.”

The rotation has underperformed all season, and Liriano was complicit in the underwhelming group effort. Over his previous 12 starts, he was 2-8 with a 5.94 ERA. He led the Majors with 62 walks.

But Liriano looked like a different pitcher Thursday — …

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