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Vargas strikes out career-high 11 in win over Pirates

Apr 19, 2007 - 6:04 AM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Claudio Vargas executed. Bill Hall didn't panic.

Vargas struck out a career-high 11 batters and Hall continued to snap out of a slump with a homer among three hits as the Milwaukee Brewers recorded a 7-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Vargas (1-0) worked out of jams in the third and fourth innings and allowed two runs - one earned - and five hits in six innings with two walks to improve to 3-0 all-time against the Pirates. His previous strikeout high was nine on two occasions, including April 10 against Florida in his only other start of the season.

"Even though that game ended up a four-run game, it could have been a totally different ball game if we had put some runs up early and changed the outlook of the whole game," Bay said. "Sometimes, you have to give a little credit to Claudio Vargas. He was throwing the ball well. You don't strike out 11 by accident."

Pittsburgh loaded the bases on a single and two walks in the fourth, but Vargas struck out Xavier Nady, Ronny Paulino and Jose Bautista to protect a 3-1 lead. Two frames later, the righthander yielded a one-out double to Jason Bay but struck out Nady and Paulino again.

"When the bases were loaded, I was just thinking, 'See the glove and throw the ball there,'" Vargas said. "That's the only way we could get out of that inning. I executed my pitches and struck out three guys. I tried to make my pitches and see what happens."

Hall capped a three-run first off Pittsburgh starter Paul Maholm (0-2) by drilling a 1-0 offering over the right field fence for a two-run homer. He snapped a 2-for-24 skid Tuesday with three hits against the Reds. Hall finished with three hits and three RBI against the Pirates.

"I was having some good at-bats and wasn't getting a lot of hits," Hall said. "I just stayed with my approach and stayed positive. I wasn't panicking. I would have panicked if it was July and I was still doing bad; then it would have been time to make some drastic changes. I knew hits would eventually start to fall."

Milwaukee's Rickie Weeks led off the first inning with a bloop double down the right field line. He scored on a one-out bloop single to right-center by Kevin Mench, setting the stage for Hall's third homer of the season.

"It was just a matter of time. That's all it is," Brewers manager Ned Yost said of Hall's slump busting. "All good players like this will struggle for bits of time and sometimes when you struggle early, your average falls down really quick."

Maholm had surrendered 29 first-inning runs in 30 starts last season but just one run in his first two starts this season. He yielded five runs and 10 hits in six innings.

"They had a couple of bloop hits, and the one to Hall was a sinker over the middle and he went the other way with it," Maholm said. "That's just one of those things that happens. Overall, I felt good and it's something to work off of."

Hall had an RBI double to right-center field in the sixth for a 4-2 lead and Damian Miller's run-scoring single provided a three-run cushion. Pittsburgh got one back in the seventh before Milwaukee tacked on two more in the eighth.

Bay homered and had three hits for the Pirates, who fell to 6-3 on the road. They started 1-13 on the road last season.

"That fourth inning, we were in a very good position to do some damage offensively," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "That's a big, big situation. You've got to come away from that inning with something."