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Suppan, sixth-inning rally leads Brewers over Pirates

Aug 31, 2008 - 5:17 AM By David Assad PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers continued to surge, while the Pittsburgh Pirates remained on a downward spiral in the National League Central.

Jeff Suppan tossed seven strong innings and was supported by a five-run sixth as the Brewers rolled to an 11-3 victory over the Pirates on Saturday.

Suppan (10-7) surrendered two runs and three hits, striking out two. His lone blemish was a two-run homer by Brandon Moss in the sixth, but an offensive explosion enabled the righthander to notch his fifth straight win.

"I made some mistakes with location, but I worked with what I had today, with good movement on my sinker and my changeup," Suppan said. "You always want to contribute, and going out there and throwing some quality innings just to give the team a chance has been effective for me."

"He's throwing good, changing speeds and going on the attack," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "Anytime you have success, it's going to be because you have good starting pitching and your defense is playing good. It's always going to be the case."

Jack Wilson also plated a run for the Pirates, who have lost nine in a row.

Mike Cameron belted a three-run homer and Bill Hall doubled, knocking Pirates starter Paul Maholm out of the game with one out in the sixth. Reliever Jesse Chavez then allowed RBI doubles by Jason Kendall and Rickie Weeks that capped the rally, which increased the Brewers' bulge to 7-0.

"Tack-on runs are really, really important because it changes the way you use your (pitching) staff," Yost said. "It helps make it easier to make decisions when you are up five (runs) compared to when you're up two."

With the triumph, Milwaukee increased its lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL wild card race to 5 1/2 games. The Brewers have won 10 of 11 meetings with the Pirates this season and seven of eight overall.

"We're playing good baseball," Cameron said. "The most important thing at this particular point in the season is to continue to find ways to play well. You've got to play tough every day. ... More so than padding our (wild card) lead, every time we win, it's another day off the calendar."

"They're a good team and they're riding the wave right now," Pirates manager John Russell said. "They are really hot and taking advantage of things."

Maholm (8-8) worked 5 1/3 innings, giving up six runs and seven hits. The lefthander had his streak of pitching at least six innings snapped at 21 games.

"It was a bad outing," Maholm said. "We needed a good start and we needed a win, and I didn't get it for us."

Maholm, who last tossed fewer than six frames in a 9-8 loss to Washington on May 3, entered with an ERA of 2.95 since the All-Star break.

"He's really good. I like him a lot," Yost said of Maholm. "We seem to see him every time we play them, and he's very, very tough on us. He keeps the score down, and when Cameron hit the three-run homer, I felt good because he's hard to score on."

Corey Hart belted his 20th homer in the second, becoming the first Milwaukee player to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in a season on two occasions.

"It's an honor," Hart said of the accomplishment. "But we have to stay focused as a team."