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Pirates rally to ruin Brewers' comeback

Sep 12, 2007 - 8:32 PM By Chris Adamski PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) - The Milwaukee Brewers rallied all the way back, just to give it away again.

After blowing a four-run lead, the Pittsburgh Pirates used a three-run eighth inning to defeat the first-place Brewers, 7-4, Wednesday afternoon.

Steve Pearce had two hits and two RBI and Tom Gorzelanny pitched 6 2/3 solid innings for the Pirates, who have won three of four.

"That was a heck of a game," Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said. "The only tough part about it is that we were not able to finish it (to get a win for Gorzelanny).

"But it caps off a very good homestand."

John Grabow (3-1) got the final out of the eighth for the win and Matt Capps pitched the ninth for his 16th save. During this homestand, the Pirates took of three each from the Chicago Cubs and Brewers, the top two teams in the NL Central.

"It just goes to show that we can play with these guys," Grabow said.

"That builds confidence for us. We have a chance to, I guess you can say, play the role of spoiler for these teams in the playoff hunt."

Damian Miller hit his fourth home run for the Brewers, who began the day with a one-game lead over the Cubs and a four-game advantage over third-place St. Louis. The Cardinals and Cubs each had games to play later Wednesday.

"It's all still right there for us," Miller said. "There's no need to hang our heads. Obviously, today's loss isn't good, but we're not going to feel bad about ourselves. It's do-or-die time."

After the Brewers scored two in the top of the inning to tie the game at 4-4, Pittsburgh struck against Milwaukee reliever Derrick Turnbow (4-5). With one out, Jose Bautista and Pearce walked. Ronny Paulino's single scored pinch-runner Cesar Izturis, and two batters later, pinch-hitter Josh Phelps tripled to center to drive in a pair.

The Pirates scored a run in the first without getting a hit out of the infield. Brewers starter Dave Bush walked two batters and hit another, and Pearce's two-out grounder deep into the hole between short and third was not handled cleanly by shortstop J.J. Hardy. Pearce was credited with a hit and an RBI when Nate McLouth scored.

Pittsburgh made it 4-0 in the third on RBI singles by Freddy Sanchez (to drive in McLouth) and Bautista (scoring Sanchez) and when Pearce grounded into a force play to score Adam LaRoche.

Bush, who was coming off his worst outing of the season when he allowed eight runs in one inning Friday at Cincinnati, was lifted for a pinch hitter after four innings. On Wednesday, Bush allowed four runs on five hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

"I thought I made some good pitches that got hit for whatever reason," Bush said. "That's something that happens and they strung some hits together and got some runs."

The Brewers scored their first run in the fourth when Corey Hart grounded into a double play and Ryan Braun came in from third. With one out and nobody on in the fifth, Miller belted a 3-2 pitch to the left field seats to cut the Pittsburgh lead to 4-2.

The Brewers' eighth was marked by Fielder's RBI groundout that scored Hardy and Hart's triple deep to the wall in left-center off the glove of a leaping Nyjer Morgan to score Braun to tie the game.

Before the comeback, Gorzelanny was in line to improve to 3-0 this season against the Brewers and he is still 5-1 with a 3.22 ERA in his past eight starts. He went 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits, walking three with four strikeouts.

"I felt I could have done a lot better than I did," said Gorzelanny, who was in line to become the first Pirate with 15 victories in eight years. "I walked too many guys, but I did what I could to keep us in the game. I did that and we got a win."

The Brewers completed their road trip 3-3 and return home to begin a three-game series against Cincinnati Friday.

"You're never satisfied when you lose the last day (of a trip)," manager Ned Yost said. "Especially when you're losing, battle back to tie it and then lose it late. We're not satisfied with that."