Pittsburgh Pirates 4 Milwaukee Brewers 6 (May 6, 2007)
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0 commentsIt was the Prince Fielder show today as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4, sealing yet another series victory. The only series that the Crew didn't win or split this year was the first series against the Cubs, back in early April.
Today's drama and excitement started last night, after J.J. Hardy hit the three-run homer, his eighth. The next batter was Fielder, and the second pitch came straight at his head, hitting his arm as he dropped to the ground. Pitcher Matt Capps was immediately ejected, and Fielder showed remarkable restraint as he made his way to first base.
Maybe he knew he'd get back at the Pirates today.
In his first at-bat in the second inning, he hit a solo home run, his eighth, to give Milwaukee a 1-0 lead. Then in the fourth, he hit a two-run home run (giving him the club lead with nine) to give Milwaukee a 3-0 lead. Later in the inning, Geoff Jenkins scored on a wild pitch. 4-0 Crew. In Fielder's third at-bat, he hit a deep fly to right that was caught at the wall, a mere several feet from being home run number three.
Then Pittsburgh woke up in the seventh. Ben Sheets, who had pitched masterfully all through the first six frames, gave up a leadoff walk. Then recorded an out. Then gave up a two-run homer to Chris Duffy. This prompted Ned Yost to go to the bullpen. Matt Wise and Brian Shouse each recorded an out, but going into the bottom half, the Pirates had tied it up at 4 apiece.
Fast forward to the bottom of the eighth. Fielder singles to right, and Johnny Estrada bunts him over to second (his first sac bunt since May 22, 2006). At this point, Jim Tracy goes to his bullpen and brings on none other than Capps, who immediately gets Tony Graffanino to fly out to deep left field. But his luck did not extend through Bill Hall, who singled to center field. Fielder rounded third and executed a perfect slide into home, avoiding the tag by maybe an inch. Once he looked up and saw that he was safe, he shot to his feet and had some animated verbal sentiments for Capps. The next batter, Tony Gwynn Jr., doubled and brought in Hall to make it 6-4. Naturally, Francisco Cordero came on and pitched a perfect ninth to make it final.
The Brewers improve to a major-league best 21-10, the first time they've been even ten (let alone 11) games above .500 since 1992. Carlos Villanueva (3-0, 2.79) gets another well-deserved win, and Francisco Cordero (0.00, 12) preserves his perfect ERA and picks up his 12th save.
The Pirates fall to 13-17. And although Capps gave up the run, it wasn't his, so John Grabow (0-1, 5.06) gets the loss.
Up next for Milwaukee are the last three games of the homestand, welcoming to town the Washington Nationals. For the Pirates, they have a day off on Monday, followed by a trip to Wrigley for a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs.
Date
May 6, 2007
