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Hall snaps slump as Brewers pound Pirates

Sep 2, 2007 - 3:16 AM By J.R. Radcliffe PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Bill Hall might be back.

Batting in an unusual spot in the order, Hall snapped out of a prolonged funk with four RBI and highlight-reel catch in center as the Milwaukee Brewers exploded for 15 hits in a 12-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night.

Kevin Mench finished a triple shy of the cycle and also drove in three runs while scoring four times and Corey Hart homered and scored three runs.

Righthander Dave Bush (11-9) was the beneficiary of the ample support, finishing with one run allowed on four hits in six innings.

Nate McLouth walked leading off the game and scored on Freddy Sanchez's RBI double to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead, but Milwaukee quickly turned the game around, starting with Hall's snare in center.

In his first major league at-bat, Steve Pearce pounded an offering to center with two runners on, and Hall made an outstretched-grab on the warning track to save a big inning.

"Play of the game, no doubt about it," Bush said. "Both guys were running, so it saved me two runs, guaranteed. It really set the tone for us and we came back to second and they gave me a nice lead and we just tacked on. It was a nice night for everybody."

Brewers manager Ned Yost saw it similarly.

"I don't want to say it inspired us, but it really got everybody fired up, big time," he said. "I thought Billy had no chance of catching the ball, because the ball was slicing away from him. That was a huge play for us."

Each of the first five batters in the Milwaukee second reached base against Shane Youman (3-5), who allowed eight runs on seven hits in two-plus innings. Johnny Estrada's two-run single and Hall's two-run double were the biggest blows, with J.J. Hardy contributing a run-scoring single later in the frame.

Milwaukee splurged for three more in the third, two on Mench's double and another on a Hall sacrifice fly. Hall, batting in the eighth spot for just the fourth time this year after going hitless in his previous 14 at-bats, came up with his fourth RBI of the game in the fifth, coming on a two-out single.

"Everybody's going to try to get down there," Hall said, referring to the eighth spot in the order, a place where Hardy had found recent success. "I tried to have not as much movement as I've had (in my swing). I've kind of calmed my whole swing down and simplified it down basically."

Hall had been batting just .211 since returning from the disabled list on July 25, with three home runs in 109 at-bats. The converted shortstop, who hit 35 home runs last season and has 12 in 2007, though his acclimation to the new position has shown immense improvement through the year.

"Fortunately our warning track has a lot of soft dirt out there," Hall said of his snare. "No torn skin, just a lot of dirt on the uniform. I'm sure the clubhouse guys are going to have a time with that one tonight." Mench's home run in the seventh against reliever Juan Perez immediately followed a two-run dinger by Hart, giving the Brewers a league-leading 184 home runs on the season.

Prince Fielder finished 3-for-3 and reached base four times, and Milwaukee 's offense clicked despite a 3-for-14 performance by the starters in the batting order's top three slots. Estrada finished 3-for-4 with two driven in.

With Chicago's win over Houston earlier in the afternoon, the Brewers were unable to pick up ground in the Central standings, though the win did move Milwaukee back above .500 at 68-67. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, fell to 59-76.

"We simply got pitched out of the game early on," skipper Jim Tracy said. "The thing that helped the second inning was the back-to-back walks to start the inning (by Youman). A couple bloop hits and when you've walked people in front of bloop hits, it's going to correlate to runs. Shane has to pitch ahead. He's got to get ahead of hitters and make his pitches and he wasn't able to do that tonight."