Braun to fore as Brewers top Pirates 9-6

Author: 
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Publication Date: 
Mon, 2011-05-16 19:08

Casey McGehee and Jonathan Lucroy also homered as the Brewers beat Pittsburgh for the ninth straight time at Miller Park. The Pirates have lost five in a row overall.
Greinke (2-1) was flawless for the first four innings. He gave up five runs in the fifth as the Pirates pulled to 6-5, and left after the inning.
Kevin Correia (5-4) struggled in his attempt to become the first Pirates pitcher to win six games by mid-May since 1991, when Neal Heaton started 6-0 and Doug Drabek was 6-1.
In Atlanta, Dan Uggla hit a tiebreaking home run off Roy Halladay in the eighth inning to cap a productive afternoon in which the Braves’ second baseman had two hits and a walk.
Freddie Freeman drove in two runs for Atlanta, Jonny Venters (3-0) pitched a perfect eighth and Craig Kimbrel recorded the final three outs for his 10th save.
Pinch-hitter Ben Francisco led off the ninth with a walk, and he moved to second with two outs on a wild pitch. Kimbrel ended the game on Rollins’ soft fly ball to left field.
John Mayberry had a two-run homer for Philadelphia, and Halladay (5-3) gave up eight hits and three runs in eight innings, striking out seven with a pair of walks.
In Houston, Justin Turner homered and drove in a career-high five runs, and Jason Pridie hit a go-ahead single and stole home for the Mets.
Chris Capuano (3-4) allowed six hits and two runs in five innings. He struck out six.
Aneury Rodriguez (0-2) didn’t allow a hit until the fifth, but finished with five earned runs and four walks in his third major league start.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth for his 12th straight save. He has not allowed a run in 14 appearances since April 14.
In Cincinnati, Brandon Phillips hit a bases-loaded double in the seventh inning that ended Chris Carpenter’s outing and his five-year streak of beating the Reds.
Carpenter (1-3) hadn’t lost to the Reds since June 6, 2006, winning his last 10 decisions.
Left-hander Travis Wood (3-3) gave up back-to-back solo homers by Lance Berkman and Yadier Molina in the second inning, but little else against the NL’s most prolific lineup.
The Reds’ bullpen let most of a 9-2 lead get away.
In Los Angeles, Ian Kennedy pitched six innings and Xavier Nady and Ryan Roberts hit consecutive homers to help the Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers.
Kennedy (4-1) allowed a run and four hits, struck out eight and walked one to help the Diamondbacks win a series at Dodger Stadium for the first time since August 2007.
Ted Lilly (3-4) gave up four runs and five hits over six innings and struck out five. The 35-year-old left-hander, coming off a 10-3 win at Pittsburgh last Tuesday, has yet to win consecutive starts this season after going 7-4 following a trade last July 31.
In Denver, Mat Latos snapped a personal 10-game losing streak and Ryan Ludwick homered in the Padres’ win over the slumping Rockies.
Latos (1-5) hadn’t won since Sept. 7, 2010, and his 10 straight losing decisions were one shy of the club record set by right-hander Gary Ross in 1969.
Latos was victimized by poor run support during his streak — the Padres scored more than two runs just twice for him during the 10-game skid. Ludwick, though, gave him all the cushion he’d need when he sent a 91 mph fastball from Jason Hammel (3-3) over the left-center field fence for his sixth homer in the fourth inning. The three-run shot put San Diego ahead 3-1.
In Washington, Jason Marquis pitched into the seventh inning to win his fifth game, drove in two runs and led the Nationals over the Marlins.
Marquis (5-1) drove in two runs in the first with an RBI double, and added a single in the fourth. He allowed two runs in the second — one of them unearned — and two in the seventh, but still got credit for snapping Florida’s eight-game winning streak in Washington.
Javier Vazquez (2-4), who left the team for three days after the death of his wife’s relative in Puerto Rico, allowed six runs and six hits in four innings.
 

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