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Youman earns first win as Pirates top Brewers

Jul 4, 2007 - 1:05 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Shane Youman earned his first major league victory as the Pittsburgh Pirates topped the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-2, on Tuesday.

Making his first start of the season, Youman (1-0) allowed two runs, eight hits and one walk while striking out two in six innings. In just his fourth career start, he allowed a hit in every inning, but effectively worked out of each jam.

"In this game, you have to battle a lot and this was one of the days where I had to battle to make pitches," Youman said. "I didn't feel as sharp as I normally feel but I was able to make pitches and the defense was able to make plays early on until I settled into the game."

Youman and the Pirates were aided by uncharacteristic sloppy play from Milwaukee, as the Brewers committed four errors.

"That wasn't a very pretty game on our side," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "We haven't had one like that all year, really. We didn't play well today defensively at all."

As a result of one of those errors, Pittsburgh took its first lead of the game. Xavier Nady led off the fifth with a double off Milwaukee reliever Yovani Gallardo (1-1) and advanced to third when Brewers center fielder Bill Hall fumbled the ball when it bounced off the wall. He then scored on a Ronny Paulino sacrifice fly to make it 3-2.

The Pirates had an opportunity to add on more but left runners stranded at second and third. It wouldn't matter in the end, however, as they would tack on three more in the following inning.

National League All-Star selection Freddy Sanchez led off the inning with a single, snapping an 0-for-12 slump. He scored when the next batter, Adam LaRoche, doubled. Jason Bay then walked.

After Nady flew out to center field, Paulino grounded out to first, scoring LaRoche and then Jack Wilson tripled home Bay to make it 6-2.

Wilson had three hits in a game for the first time since May 13 and reached base in all four of his at-bats.

"We took advantage offensively today of some opportunities," Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said. "We didn't overwhelm the ball by any stretch of the imagination but we took advantage of some opportunities we were given."

Gallardo, in his fourth appearance of the season and first out of the bullpen, gave up four runs, five hits and two walks while striking out two in 2 2/3 innings.

"I was just leaving the ball up and they put some good swings on it and were able to score some runs," Gallardo said. "Everything that I threw was up in the zone and usually when you leave the balls up, that's what happens."

Youman was recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis Monday when the Pirates placed Zach Duke on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his pitching elbow.

The 27-year-old lefthander didn't look sharp early as the game's first batter, Corey Hart, roped a double to left field, extending his hitting streak to 19 games.

Hart came around to score one batter later on rookie Ryan Braun's single, giving the Brewers a 1-0 lead. Youman worked out of his biggest jam in the second when the Brewers left the bases loaded without scoring a run.

With the sacks full and two out, Youman got Craig Counsell to line out to first baseman LaRoche on a full count to end the threat.

"It's something that I've always been told coming up, just to keep your composure no matter the situation," Youman said. "You don't want to give the opposing team anything to go on. You don't want to get too high or too low in the game, you just want to try to keep an even keel and go out there and make pitches."

Kevin Mench homered and Johnny Estrada had three hits for the Brewers, who suffered just their second loss in eight games against the Pirates this season. "It was just one of those days from the opening pitch to the last pitch, things didn't go our way," Mench said. "That's the way baseball is sometimes."