Final
Hall snaps slump as Brewers pound Pirates
Sep 2, 2007 - 3:16 AM By J.R. Radcliffe PA SportsTicker Contributing WriterMILWAUKEE (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."
- NL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
PITTSBURGH 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 6 2
MILWAUKEE 0 5 3 0 1 0 3 0 x 12 15 0 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: PIT - SHANE YOUMAN, ROMULO SANCHEZ (3RD), JUAN PEREZ (6TH), JOHN
GRABOW (8TH) AND RONNY PAULINO, CARLOS MALDONADO (7TH)
MIL - DAVE BUSH, MATT WISE (7TH), SETH MCCLU
Sep 1 10:00 PM - NL
AT MILWAUKEE - SCORING UPDATE
FIELDER'S CHOICE BY JOSE BAUTISTA SCORED JACK WILSON.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, J BAUTISTA ON FIRST, N MORGAN ON THIRD, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 3
MILWAUKEE 12 TOP, 9TH
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: C MALDONADO (.000, 0 HR, 1 RBI)
Pirates vs. BrewersSep 1 10:00 PM - NL
AT MILWAUKEE - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY KEVIN MENCH (7) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT IN THE
7TH OFF JUAN PEREZ.
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 2, MILWAUKEE 12
DUE UP FOR MILWAUKEE: J ESTRADA (.279, 2-FOR-3, 2 RBI)
Pirates vs. BrewersSep 1 9:23 PM - NL
AT MILWAUKEE - SCORING UPDATE
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY COREY HART (19) TO CENTER WITH 0 OUT IN
THE 7TH OFF JUAN PEREZ SCORED JOE DILLON.
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 2, MILWAUKEE 11
DUE UP FOR MILWAUKEE: K MENCH (.271, 2-FOR-2, BB, 2 RBI)
Pirates vs. BrewersSep 1 9:23 PM - NL
AT MILWAUKEE - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY FREDDY SANCHEZ SCORED NYJER MORGAN.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, F SANCHEZ ON FIRST, N MCLOUTH ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 2
MILWAUKEE 9 TOP, 7TH
DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: J PHELPS (.426, 5 HR, 15 RBI)
Pirates vs. BrewersSep 1 9:16 PM - NL
AT MILWAUKEE - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY BILL HALL SCORED KEVIN MENCH.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, B HALL ON FIRST, J ESTRADA ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 1
MILWAUKEE 9 BOTTOM, 5TH
DUE UP FOR MILWAUKEE: D BUSH (.111, 0-FOR-1, SAC)
Pirates vs. BrewersSep 1 8:44 PM - NL
AT MILWAUKEE - SCORING UPDATE
SACRIFICE FLY BY BILL HALL SCORED KEVIN MENCH.
SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, NONE ON, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 1
MILWAUKEE 8 BOTTOM, 3RD
DUE UP FOR MILWAUKEE: D BUSH (.114, 0-FOR-0, SAC)
Pirates vs. BrewersSep 1 8:08 PM - NL
AT MILWAUKEE - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY KEVIN MENCH SCORED PRINCE FIELDER AND COREY HART.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, K MENCH ON SECOND, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 1
MILWAUKEE 7 BOTTOM, 3RD
DUE UP FOR MILWAUKEE: J ESTRADA (.278, 1-FOR-1, 2 RBI)
Pirates vs. BrewersSep 1 8:03 PM - NL
AT MILWAUKEE - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY J.J. HARDY SCORED BILL HALL.
SITUATION: 5 RUNS IN, J HARDY ON FIRST, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 1
MILWAUKEE 5 BOTTOM, 2ND
DUE UP FOR MILWAUKEE: R BRAUN (.328, 0-FOR-1)
Pirates vs. BrewersSep 1 7:49 PM - NL
AT MILWAUKEE - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY BILL HALL SCORED KEVIN MENCH AND JOHNNY ESTRADA.
SITUATION: 4 RUNS IN, B HALL ON SECOND, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 1
MILWAUKEE 4 BOTTOM, 2ND
DUE UP FOR MILWAUKEE: D BUSH (.114, 0 HR, 2 RBI)
Pirates vs. BrewersSep 1 7:43 PM - NL
AT MILWAUKEE - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY JOHNNY ESTRADA SCORED PRINCE FIELDER AND COREY
HART.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, J ESTRADA ON SECOND, K MENCH ON THIRD, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: PITTSBURGH 1
MILWAUKEE 2 BOTTOM, 2ND
DUE UP FOR MILWAUKEE: B HALL (.254, 12 HR, 51 RBI)
Pirates vs. BrewersSep 1 7:42 PM - NL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
PITTSBURGH 1 1 1 0
MILWAUKEE 0 0 0 (BOT 1)
CURRENT PITCHERS: PIT - SHANE YOUMAN
MIL - DAVE BUSH
DUE UP FOR MILWAUKEE: R WEEKS (.232, 7 HR, 22 RBI)
J HARDY (.276, 23 HR, 72 RBI)
R BRAUN (.329, 25 HR, 68 RBI)
Pirates vs. BrewersSep 1 7:20 PM
Related News
- Pirates Top Games of 2023: No. 6 - Drew Maggi gets his moment Dec 23
- The Pirates got it right with Andrew McCutchen Dec 22
- Bucs Arghticles: Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen makes comments after signing Dec 22
- Pirates targeting first baseman in upcoming MLB Draft Dec 22
- Bucs Arghticles: Pirates sign Ryan Mattson Dec 21
- Brewers trade Adrian Houser, Tyrone Taylor to Mets Dec 20
- Brewers sign catcher Eric Haase Dec 20
- Pirates Top Games of 2023: No. 7 - Johan Oviedo shuts out the Royals Dec 20
- Andrew McCutchen re-signs with Pirates for 2024 season Dec 19
- Talk the Plank Podcast: The Pirates are a bit ‘Rowdy’ Dec 19
- Bucs Arghticles: Pirates sign Martín Pérez to deal Dec 19
- Pirates sign Martin Perez to one-year deal Dec 18