MVP: Ryan Braun (+.316)
LVP: Mark DiFelice (-.222)
Win Expectancy Graph
SB Nation Coverage
Despite getting the win, Mark DiFelice was the Brewers' Least Valuable Player, which should tell you something about how the Brewers scavenged this win in Pittsburgh.
This game had it all - Bill Hall starting in left and subsequently leaving with a hamstring cramp in the second inning, Mike Cameron and Chris Duffy running into the outfield walls, Ryan Braun arriving late to the game, pinch-hitting and driving in two runs and Rickie Weeks having a career game on both defense and offense.
Milwaukee scored a run in the first on some small ball as Hart and Hardy singled. Rickie flied out, sending Hart to third. An awkward fielder's choice play at first left Fielder safe and Corey scoring a run.
Gallardo walked Adam LaRoche to start the Pirates' second and Brandon Moss' triple evened the score at 1-1. Gallardo struggled, but managed to get out of the inning without any more damage.
Andy LaRoche hit a home run off the left field foul pole in the fourth and a Freddy Sanchez double turned into another run on a Nate McLouth single in the fifth making it 3-1 all the way into the 8th when Braun's bloop single into shallow right scored Hardy and Fielder, evening the score at 3-3.
Jason Jaramillo drove Ramon Vazquez in the bottom of the ninth to give the Pirates a one-run lead and gave us the setup for Kendall, Counsell and Hardy to score a small-ball run and then Rickie Weeks' dramatic three-run home run and finally, Trevor Hoffman's first save on the road as a Brewer.
The win was Milwaukee's 16th straight against the Pirates, tying an NL record.
-tristarscoop