• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Brewers hold off Pirates for third consecutive win

May 6, 2007 - 10:47 PM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Prince Fielder homered twice and scored the go-ahead run on Bill Hall's eighth-inning single as the Milwaukee Brewers posted a 6-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After opening up a 4-0 lead through six innings, the Brewers squandered the advantage in the seventh. However, Milwaukee broke through for two runs in the bottom of the eighth en route to improving to a major league-best 21-10.

With the scored tied 4-4, Fielder opened the bottom of the eighth with a single off John Grabow (0-1) and advanced to second on Johnny Estrada's sacrifice. Hall followed with a single to center off reliever Matt Capps that scored Fielder, who narrowly avoided the tag of catcher Ryan Doumit.

"I saw it. We didn't get him," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said of the decisive play. "If the throw ends up coming back a little deeper, then he is going to be out. But Ryan had to go forward just a little bit to get the ball and Prince slid right around the backside of him. From my angle, he was clearly safe."

Hall, who advanced to second on the throw home, scored an insurance run moments later on a single by Tony Gwynn Jr.

"Today, I was able to get a big hit for the team and help us win the series," Hall said. "I like being up there when the team needs me most to come through. There's nothing I'd change, I just go up there and try to put a good swing on the ball."

Capps was ahead of Hall 0-2 after Hall swung and missed on consecutive fastballs.

"You tip your hat to him," Capps said. "He looked pretty bad on the first two (fastballs) I threw him, so I gave him another one and he caught up to it."

Carlos Villanueva (3-0) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief for the win for for the Brewers, who outscored the Pirates, 26-9, in the four-game series.

"It was just a good win," Fielder said. "We wanted to win the series. Any time you win it's good. I was pumped up to win. Every win is special. I'm glad we won the series."

Milwaukee starter Ben Sheets allowed two runs, six hits and three walks while striking out five in 6 1/3 innings.

After blanking the Pirates for the first six innings, Sheets ran into trouble in the seventh.

Jose Bautista opened the frame with a walk and, after one out was recorded, Chris Duffy hit a 1-1 pitch over the wall in right to cut the deficit in half, 4-2.

"You'd like to be rewarded (with a win), but we came out on top and that's what mostly matters," Sheets said. "(Duffy's home run) didn't kill me. So, it's 4-2, the bases are empty. I'm not going to pin that inning on a walk to lead off the inning. I pitched too good to worry about the walk."

Matt Wise replaced Sheets and promptly allowed a walk to Jack Wilson and a single to Freddy Sanchez.

After getting Jason Bay to pop out for the second out of the inning, Wise was replaced by Brian Shouse, who fared no better.

Adam LaRoche cut the Pirates' deficit to one with an RBI single to right and Doumit followed with an run-scoring base hit to left to knot the game, 4-4.

Villanueva, the Brewers' fourth pitcher of the inning, prevented further damage by getting Xavier Nady to ground out and end the inning.

"(Villanueva) did a very nice job," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "(Wise) wasn't sharp and Shouse wasn't sharp, but I knew if we could keep it tied we'd be in good shape. Carlos came in and got the last big out and then held them through the eighth."

Milwaukee seemed to be on its way to a comfortable victory. Fielder led off the second inning with his eighth home run of season, a line shot to right-center field.

The 260-pound slugger padded Milwaukee's lead in his next at-bat, driving a 1-0 pitch from Pittsburgh starter Tony Armas over the wall in right for a two-run homer in the fourth inning.

"Everybody's doing good," Fielder said. "The thing is, we have to keep it up for most of the season. Everybody's going to have a slump, but the key is to have players step up when they do. We've had that this year."

Fielder, who has five multi-homer games in his career, has hit safely in 12-of-13 games and is batting .440 (11-for-25) with three homers and eighth RBI in that span. He led NL rookies in home runs last season with 28.

"(Fielder) had a big day, two home runs and he just missed a third one," Yost said. "And he did a nice job of scoring that winning run. I got a little nervous for the catcher for a second because I wasn't sure if he was going to slide. I was glad when he decided to."

Geoff Jenkins doubled later in the inning and eventually scored on a wild pitch, extending the lead to 4-0.

Armas allowed four runs - three earned - and six hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out six.

The Pirates have been held scoreless in 39 of their last 43 innings.

"We had four offensive innings in four games," Tracy said. "It's tough to win when you do it that way. There's a lot of things that have to go right for you, perfectly as a matter of fact."