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Hall's two-run homer lifts Brewers past Tigers

Jun 14, 2007 - 3:40 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Bill Hall hit the go-ahead homer in the eighth inning as the Milwaukee Brewers posted a 3-2 triumph over the Detroit Tigers.

With Milwaukee trailing, 2-1, Hall delivered his seventh blast of the season - a two-run shot - off reliever Fernando Rodney (1-5) on a 3-2 pitch over the left field wall.

"(Rodney) gave up a home run," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "It's that simple. Got a couple outs, gave up a base hit. It looked like Hall was going back and forth, looked like earlier in the count he was sitting on a changeup.

"Threw him some changeups, some fastballs, looked like he was going back and forth in between sitting on one. Finally we threw a 3-2 change he fouled out and went back to the fastball and he was on it, hit it out of the ballpark. It's part of the game."

It was Hall's first homer against the Tigers in five career matchups. The 27-year-old walked three times during Justin Verlander's no-hitter in Tuesday's series opener.

"I been swinging the bat much better," Hall said. "I'm really seeing the ball good of late. I just relaxed at the plate and saw the ball come out of his and hit it good."

Chris Spurling (1-0) got two outs in the seventh to record the win and closer Francisco Cordero picked up his 23rd save for Milwaukee, which improved to 3-5 in interleague play.

Brewers starter Carlos Villanueva allowed one run and five hits with four strikeouts and two walks in five innings in his first start since June 14 at Cincinnati.

"I had started before," Villanueva said. "I treated this like any other start. I really didn't think about how long I could go at the start but as the game went on my pitch count was down and the temperature wasn't as bad as in Texas, I knew that I could five innings."

The Dominican righthander was put into the rotation earlier after starter Chris Capuano was scratched because of a strained left groin.

"(Capuano) pulled it while warming up before the game," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "He threw about nine pitches and said that he couldn't go."

Milwaukee tied the game at 1-1 in the sixth against Mike Maroth, when Hall scored as Damian Miller grounded into a fielder's choice. However, the Brewers' chances of adding more runs came to an end when Miller was picked off first base moments later.

Detroit opened the scoring in the fourth when Gary Sheffield laced a double to the left field corner and scored on Magglio Ordonez's RBI single off Villanueva for a 1-0 edge.

In the seventh inning, Brandon Inge hit a leadoff single and came around on Curtis Granderson's run-scoring single up the middle as the Tigers took a 2-1 lead prior to Rodney's meltdown.

Detroit's bullpen continues to struggle without hard-throwing Joel Zumaya, who is sidelined with a ruptured tendon in his right middle finger. The Tigers' bullpen fell to 9-13 this year.

Maroth yielded one run and nine hits in seven frames to remain winless at Comerica Park this season. In his first outing vs. the Brewers, the lefthander walked four and fanned two.

"I made pitches when I needed them," Maroth said. "I got in some jams there, got some ground balls when I needed them. I had that double play on the flyout, which was big, first and third and nobody out."

"Absolutely. I'm going to give up some hits, look to get some ground balls, give the infield a chance to turn two. I felt like I was able to do a pretty good job of commanding the outside part of the plate."