Brewers 4, Pirates 1

W: Randy Wolf (1-2)
L: Paul Maholm (0-2)

MVP: (P) Randy Wolf, .433; (H) Prince Fielder, .063
LVP: Erick Almonte, -.062

The Brewers scored pairs of bookend runs: 2 in the 1st inning and 2 in the 9th. Rickie Weeks led off the game with a single, Ryan Braun walked, Prince Fielder's single scored Weeks, McGehee walked, and then Yuniesky Betancourt sacrificed Braun in. In the 9th, Casey McGehee led off the inning with a double off of Joel Hanrahan. Betancourt came through again (!) with a single that scored McGehee. Nyjer Morgan, who entered the game in the 7th as a defensive replacement for Erick Almonte, doubled in Betancourt but was out trying to get to third.

Both teams' starting pitchers had good performances tonight. Paul Maholm got most of his walks taken care of in the 1st, finishing the game with 4 hits, 3 walks and 6 strikeouts in 7 innings. Even better for the Brewers, Good Randy Wolf showed up in Pittsburgh. He threw 6.2 shutout innings, giving up 3 hits and walking 2. He also struck out 10 Pirates, striking out 10 or more batters for the 14th time in his career.

The relief pitching, on the other hand: not so much. Hanrahan, of course, had his troubles (compounded by Neil Walker's defense) but John Axford's troubles caused some nailbiting for us fans at home. Axford loaded the bases with two outs, letting a run score with a wild pitch during Josh Rodriguez's at-bat. Rodriguez, thankfully, struck out. Axford's control just wasn't there tonight; he walked 2 batters in one inning as well as throwing the fateful wild pitch.