Gallardo pitches Brewers past Bucs

Sep 12, 2007, 2:32 GMT

Pittsburgh, PA - Yovani Gallardo tossed a six-hitter over six scoreless innings, as the Milwaukee Brewers pounded the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-1, in the middle portion of a three-game series at PNC Park.

Gallardo (8-4) won his third straight start, striking out seven batters and walking three.

Prince Fielder and Corey Hart both homered for the Brewers, who are a half- game over Chicago for the lead in the National League Central. The Cubs are currently playing in Houston.

Rickie Weeks finished 3-for-4 and scored twice in the win.

Adam LaRoche went 2-for-4 for the Pirates, who took two out of three against the Cubs over the weekend. Bryan Bullington (0-2) allowed three runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and a walk over five-plus frames in his second start of the season for the Pirates.

Milwaukee scored a run in the fourth on Fielder's homer to center field on a 1-2 pitch.

The Bucs loaded the bases in the home half of the fourth, but Ronny Paulino grounded into a double play to leave them.

The Brewers put up three more runs in the sixth. Weeks walked, stole second, and scored on a Gabe Gross ground-rule double. Ryan Braun followed with an RBI single, prompting John Grabow to replace Bullington on the mound. He got Fielder to ground into a double play, but Hart then homered to left field on an 0-1 pitch.

The Brewers scored two more runs in the seventh off reliever Salomon Torres, activated from the disabled list prior to the game. Torres gave up singles to J.J. Hardy and Weeks, who also stole second to put both runners in scoring position. Braun then singled them both home before Torres was taken out for Juan Perez, who induced a Fielder groundout to escape without further damage.

Pittsburgh got on the board in the seventh off Ray King, who surrendered a single to Nyjer Moran before an RBI double to Nate McLouth.

Game Notes

The Pirates also activated pitcher Zach Duke from the DL prior to the game...Bullington, the number one pick of the 2002 draft, was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis last Tuesday and made his season debut two days later...Fielder extended a 10-game hitting streak...Pittsburgh played without Jason Bay, who also missed the series opener because of right knee tendinitis. Monday's win for the Pirates snapped a three-game losing streak to the Brewers, who have still won 10 of 15 against them this year. However, Pittsburgh is 4-2 versus Milwaukee at home in 2007.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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