Milwaukee uses long ball, Gallardo's impressive start to down Pirates
Baseball Betting Lines
07/22/2010 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yovani Gallardo came off the disabled list and tossed six scoreless innings, and the Brewers used a pair of home runs to down the Pirates, 3-2, in the finale of a four-game set.
Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks went deep behind Gallardo (9-4), who scattered five hits and a walk while fanning five to help Milwaukee earn a split in the series and in its eight-game road trip.
John Axford recorded the final five outs to earn his 13th save of the season.
Ross Ohlendorf (1-8) was the hard-luck loser, allowing one run on five hits and a walk to go with six strikeouts for Pittsburgh, which had won four of five coming in. Neil Walker went 2-for-3 and drove in both Pirates runs in the loss.
Fielder broke a scoreless tie with his 24th home run of the season leading off the fourth, a towering fly over the right-center field wall.
Gallardo, who has been sidelined since suffering a right oblique strain on July 4, only had one clean inning -- the fourth -- but kept the Pirates off the board.
Pittsburgh's Evan Meek surrendered a pinch-hit single to Carlos Gomez in the seventh, then served up a no-doubter to Weeks for a 3-0 game, just the third home run the All-Star reliever has allowed in 53 2/3 innings this season.
The Pirates, coming off their first 15-run game in nearly two years, rallied with two outs in the bottom half. Todd Coffey plunked Jose Tabata to get Pittsburgh's attention, Delwyn Young followed with a base hit and Walker drove in both runners with a double to the right-field wall.
Fielder tried scoring from second on Alcides Escobar's single to left in the eighth, but Lastings Milledge's throw beat the plodding runner in plenty of time. Fielder attempted to barrel over Erik Kratz, but the 6-foot-4, 255- pound catcher kept his feet and held on to the ball for the final out.
Chris Capuano, who retired the final batter of the seventh, got Pedro Alvarez to ground out to start the eighth before Axford set down the next five Pirates hitters to finish off the win.
Game Notes
Weeks, who now has 19 home runs, also recorded his third triple of the year...20 of Fielder's 24 home runs this season are of the solo variety...Pirates rookie Pedro Alvarez went 0-for-4 after notching back-to- back multi-homer games...The Pirates placed catcher Ryan Doumit on the 15-day disabled list due on Thursday due to a concussion and recalled catcher Jason Jaramillo from Triple-A Indianapolis...Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen did not start for a fourth game in a row due to a right shoulder injury...To make room for Gallardo, the Brewers optioned outfielder Lorenzo Cain to Triple-A Nashville... The Brewers lead the season series, 10-4.
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