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Greinke, Brewers down sinking Pirates

Aug 13, 2011 - 4:44 AM Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Zack Greinke pitched into the eighth inning, and Prince Fielder had three hits, including a home run, as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-2, in the opener of a three-game series.

Greinke (11-4) lasted 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk while fanning nine to earn his fourth straight winning decision.

"That's probably as good as I've seen him. His location was outstanding, and his fastball was going in and out of the zone," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said about Greinke.

Ryan Braun added a homer and two RBI in the Brewers' 14th win in their last 16 games.

Paul Maholm (6-13) allowed four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits through five full frames for the loss.

Michael McKenry went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored in Pittsburgh's 14th defeat in its last 17 games.

Casey McGehee singled with one out in the second, moved to second on a Yuniesky Betancourt groundout, and scored on a Josh Wilson base hit to center to give the Brewers a one-run lead.

Milwaukee added to its lead in the third. After back-to-back, two-out singles by Braun and Fielder, McGehee brought them both home when he slapped a triple into the right-field corner. Betancourt followed with a groundout to second to strand McGehee at third and keep it a 3-0 game.

Braun's sacrifice fly in the fifth increased the Brewers' lead.

Pittsburgh finally broke through against Greinke in the eighth. Ronny Cedeno singled with one out, and McKenry followed with a double down the third-base line to bring home Cedeno. Two batters later, Andrew McCutchen smacked a ground-rule double to dead-center field to score McKenry and knock Greinke out of the game.

Francisco Rodriguez induced a grounder to short by Xavier Paul to end the inning.

Milwaukee got those two runs back in the bottom half of the inning, plus another. Braun and Fielder led off with back-to-back home runs to almost the same spot in right-center field. Betancourt later doubled and scored on a Jonathan Lucroy single to put Milwaukee ahead by a score of 7-2.

"We're well aware of how well they hit at home," said Pirates manager Clint Hurdle. "It was a good push back by us, but before you knew it they got a lot of separation."

Kameron Loe pitched a perfect ninth inning to close out the game.

Game Notes

Rodriguez had an infield single in the eighth inning for his first career hit. He then left before pitching the ninth inning with a left leg cramp...Maholm has not earned a win since beating the Cubs on July 10...Milwaukee is 6-0 against Pittsburgh this season.