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Bush helps Brewers stave off elimination

Oct 5, 2008 - 4:38 AM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Making their first trip to the playoffs since 1982, the Milwaukee Brewers have no intention of bowing out without a fight.

Dave Bush turned in a solid start and J.J. Hardy had three hits as the Brewers staved off elimination for at least one more day with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game Three of the National League Division Series on Saturday.

Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun each had sacrifice flies for Milwaukee, which won for the first time since Game Five of the 1982 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

"I think the guys gained a lot of confidence (Saturday)," Brewers interim manager Dale Sveum said. "Hopefully it pays off in the next two ballgames."

Game Four is here on Sunday.

Bush (1-0) struck out two batters in a perfect opening frame and was rewarded with a pair of runs in the bottom half as Fielder scored Mike Cameron from third with a sacrifice fly and Hardy followed with an RBI single to left.

"I think we just kind of needed to get off to a good start and get a couple runs early, and hopefully we could relax from there," Hardy said. "And we had some baserunners."

Cameron and Bill Hall formed an unlikely combination in the top two spots in the batting order, combining for 266 strikeouts and 91 walks in the regular season. But Cameron drew a four-pitch walk from lefthander Jamie Moyer and Hall battled through a 12-pitch at-bat before drawing his own free pass to set up the two-run frame.

"I had a sense that (Moyer) didn't have his best command, and the crowd was in it very much," Cameron said. "When I got in a hitter's count, I still was kind of being soft, trying to give myself an opportunity to get on base any way possible."

Bush allowed one hit in each of the next five innings but escaped damage thanks to some strong command, throwing 51 of 70 pitches for strikes.

"I really kept pounding the strike zone and letting the movement within the zone work for me," Bush said. "They have a good offensive lineup, but a lot of teams have a good offensive lineup. My job is to negate that the best I can. We had the lead and that allowed me to throw strikes and worry about solo home runs."

Jayson Werth led off the sixth with a triple and Ryan Howard knocked Bush out of the game with an RBI groundout. The righthander was charged with one run and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out three and did not issue a walk.

"They've been making a lot of tough pitches and some good plays," Howard said. "(Bush) mixed it up nice. He's got that 69 mile per hour curveball that's tough to hit, whether you're righthanded or lefthanded, and we hit some balls right at guys."

Moyer (0-1) lasted four innings, allowing two runs and four hits while walking three. The 45-year-old struck out three while burning through 90 pitches.

"I was a little erratic early in the game," Moyer said. "I threw a lot of balls right around the plate. I got some calls and didn't get some calls, but you've got to force them to swing the bat.

"The results showed that I was struggling. They were pretty patient. I was comfortable, I just couldn't create any consistency with command."

Milwaukee added a run in the fifth on Braun's sacrifice fly and another in the seventh when Jason Kendall plated Hardy with a single off lefthander Scott Eyre.

Philadelphia loaded the bases with none out in the ninth, but Salomon Torres induced a double-play grounder from Pedro Feliz and Shane Victorino was called for interference at second base, wiping a run off the board. After Howard was forced to return to third base, Torres got Carlos Ruiz to groundout to end the game and pick up the save.

"Sometimes, that's the way it goes," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said of his team's struggling offense. "I don't know what you do about it. We've played 27 innings of baseball and we've only scored in three innings."