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Brewers again top Pirates

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Photo by AP Photo/Darren Hauck

Milwaukee Brewers' Rickie Weeks, center, is congratulated by Corey Hart, left, after hitting a three-run home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second inning of a baseball game Monday in Milwaukee. At right is Milwaukee's Bill Hall.

MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers still remember how to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It wasn’t as easy as the final score indicated but the Brewers triumphed, 10-5, Monday night at Miller Park on the strength of a five-run outburst in the eighth inning.

The victory boosted the Brewers’ winning streak over the Pirates to 13 games, the longest active domination in the majors. It also marked the Brewers’ 16th consecutive victory over the Pirates at Miller Park, extending their franchise record.

The winning rally started, as it so often does, with a leadoff walk. Bill Hall drew that pass from reliever Tyler Yates, who then plunked Jason Kendall, who was trying to bunt, on the hand.

Pinch hitter Craig Counsell did his job, bunting the runners up. With the infield playing in, Rickie Weeks delivered the go-ahead run with a sharp grounder that second baseman Freddy Sanchez knocked down, but he couldn’t catch Hall at home.

Corey Hart followed with an RBI double to right, and after Ryan Braun was walked intentionally, Prince Fielder bounced a two-run single up the middle to break open the game. When Mike Cameron followed with a sacrifice fly to right, the Brewers had a five-run lead.

That left it to closer Trevor Hoffman, whose Milwaukee debut was not as dramatic as might have been expected. Hoffman retired the side in order in the top of the ninth and that was that.

The first inning was ugly for starter Braden Looper and the Brewers but would have been uglier if not for a nice defensive play by Fielder. Nyjer Morgan led off with a walk and Sanchez won an eight-pitch duel with Looper with a broken-bat single to right.

Craig Monroe singled up the middle to score Morgan and Adam LaRoche tried to follow with another RBI single to center but Mike Cameron threw out Sanchez at the plate with a perfect throw. Eric Hinske followed with yet another grounder up the middle that second baseman Weeks flagged down and flipped behind his back to shortstop J.J. Hardy, who was charged with an error when he couldn’t handle the ball.

With the bases loaded, Andy LaRoche ripped a grounder that appeared headed for the right-field corner but Fielder made a diving stab to record the out at first as a run scored. When Jason Jaramillo bounced out to first, the damage had been restricted to two runs.

Braun got one of those runs back with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the inning when he ripped a two-out homer to left-center off Pirates starter Jeff Karstens. Fielder followed with a booming triple to center but was stranded when Cameron flied out to right.

But the Brewers were not through playing long ball. With one down in the bottom of the second, Hall doubled to left, Kendall drew a walk and Looper sacrificed them to second and third. Weeks then hammered his fourth homer of the season deep into the loge level in left for a 4-2 lead.

Karstens caused some hard feelings by drilling Braun in the back in the bottom of the third, prompting umpire John Hirschbeck to warn both benches. Braun was picked off first by Karstens, which cost the Brewers a run when Cameron whacked a two-out homer to left.

Looper worked around a leadoff double by Andy LaRoche in the fourth but found bigger trouble in the fifth. It started when Morgan led off with an opposite-field single to left and Sanchez drew a walk.

Looper gave himself a chance to escape by striking out Monroe and Adam LaRoche but surrendered a run-scoring single up the middle to Hinske. Andy LaRoche drew a walk to load the bases but Looper stopped it there by getting Jaramillo to bounce into a force at second.

The Brewers let a chance to break open the game slip away in the bottom of the sixth against Pirates reliever Jesse Chavez. With one down, Hardy singled through the left side, Hall walked and Kendall was nicked on the shoulder with a fastball to load the bases.

Pinch hitter Brad Nelson remained hitless for the season (0 for 13) by swinging through a 3-2 changeup from Chavez and Weeks fouled out to leave the bases full.

Brewers reliever Carlos Villanueva, who took over in the seventh with a runner on second and two down and escaped that jam, was not as fortunate in the eighth. One strike away from protecting the 5-3 lead, he gave up two runs.