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Fielder, Brewers look to stay alive vs. Pirates

Sep 24, 2008 - 10:08 AM Pittsburgh (65-92) at Milwaukee (86-71) 8:05 p.m. EDT

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers have struggled to find consistency in their bullpen this season. Lucky for them, Prince Fielder is around to bail them out.

Fielder and fellow portly Brewer CC Sabathia will look to keep their team's playoff hopes alive when they face the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.

After the bullpen squandered a lead late in the game on Tuesday, Fielder came up with a runner on and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game and launched his 34th homer of the season into the stands to give Milwaukee a 7-5 victory and keep it within one game of the New York Mets (87-70) in the National League wild-card scramble.

Fielder has been the lone bright spot recently as the Brewers have lost 11 of 15, batting .356 with six homers and 17 RBI since September 9.

The last time Sabathia (9-2, 1.81 ERA) faced the Pirates, he was a controversial official scorer's decision away from a no-hitter. The veteran lefthander will be pitching on three days' rest for the third time in his career. He is 1-1 with a 1.69 ERA in the other two outings on short rest.

Sabathia struck out 11 against Pittsburgh in his one-hitter, his NL-high.

The Pirates will counter with lefthander Paul Maholm (9-8. 3.68). The 26-year-old has been strong of late, posting a 2.57 ERA over his past three starts. He made back-to-back starts against the Brewers at the end of August, going 0-1 while yielding 19 hits in 11 1/3 innings.