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Fielder carries Brewers past Marlins

Apr 27, 2008 - 3:56 AM By J.R. Radcliffe PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers snapped a 16-inning scoreless streak and Prince Fielder's solo home run in the eighth inning proved to be the difference in a 4-3 win over the Florida Marlins on Saturday at Miller Park.

Fielder's blast to straightaway center field off reliever Renyel Pinto (1-1) that traveled approximately 428 feet snapped a 3-3 tie. The Marlins had forged the deadlock in the top of the eighth against Brewers righthander Salomon Torres (3-0).

"Prince had a history last year doing a real nice job when opposing teams brought lefthanders in to face him," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "He was definitely a tough lefthander - big, tall, hard-throwing. ... We've been hitting a lot of balls, and it seems like it (the baseball) hasn't been carrying one bit, but he got a hold of that one."

Three of Fielder's four home runs this season have come against lefthanders.

"All that other stuff - worrying about your hands and stuff like that - that's for batting practice," Fielder said. "I got that out of my head and just went up there and let it fly."

Following Hanley Ramirez's 18th career leadoff homer in the first inning, the Brewers ended their long scoreless streak when Fielder crossed the plate in the second on a sacrifice by Carlos Villanueva to knot the game at 1-1.

"The pitch was tough, but we work everyday on squeezes," Yost said. "(First base coach) Ed Sedar does a great job with pitchers on offense, so they're prepared for the situation."

"I saw (Fielder) out of the corner of the eye and thought I better bunt the ball and get out of the way," Villanueva said. "He'd probably run me and the catcher over."

Milwaukee took the lead in the third, when Fielder delivered an RBI single and later scored on J.J. Hardy's sacrifice fly.

Dan Uggla delivered a sacrifice fly of his own in the fifth before scoring on a double-play grounder by Josh Willingham in the eighth, forcing Villanueva to settle for a no-decision. Milwaukee's starters have gone winless over their last eight games despite posting a 2.26 ERA in that span.

"We're grinding right now," Yost said. "That's good though; we're grinding games out. Nothing's coming easy for us (but) we're hanging in there. It's a good sign. Our pitching has been really good; our defense has been really good. We've faced some tough pitchers and, when you face tough pitchers, you've got to grind some games out."

Villanueva allowed two runs and six hits in six innings.

Florida's attempt at its ninth comeback win of the season was foiled in the bottom of the eighth as Fielder homered for the third time in four games. With three runs scored and two RBI, Fielder factored in on each of Milwaukee's runs.

Torres allowed a run and two hits in two innings before giving way to closer Eric Gagne, who worked around a one-out single by Mike Rabelo in the ninth for his seventh save in 11 chances.

Ramirez, Uggla and Willingham each had two hits for the Marlins, who have alternated wins and losses over the last six contests.