Pirates

Brewers 4, Pirates 3

MILWAUKEE (AP) ― J.J. Hardy singled in the winning run on his bobblehead day at Miller Park, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat Pittsburgh 4-3 in 12 innings on Sunday for their 12th straight home win over the Pirates.

CC Sabathia got a no-decision instead of a win for a change, but the Brewers still kept pace in the playoff race with their 23rd win in their last at-bat and ninth series sweep this season.

Milwaukee leads St. Louis by 3½ games for the wild card, and trails the Chicago Cubs by 4½ games in the NL Central, after both division rivals won on Sunday as well.

Pirates reliever Jason Davis (1-4) walked Rickie Weeks with one out in the 12th. Weeks stole second moments later, setting the stage for Hardy, who drove a pitch just over the leap of Luis Rivas at second base for the winner.

It was a bitter end for the Pirates, who loaded the bases with no outs in the 12th off Brewers reliever Carlos Villanueva with a single by Ryan Doumit and two walks.

Villanueva was yanked for Guillermo Mota, and Mota (4-5) forced Brandon Moss to fly out to shallow center field, struck out Chris Gomez and got Rivas to ground out to end the inning.

Mike Cameron, who finished a career-best 5-for-5, homered off Pirates reliever Denny Bautista in the eighth to give Milwaukee a 3-2 lead, but closer Salomon Torres blew his sixth save of the season.

Torres allowed a leadoff single to Rivas opening the ninth and threw a wild pitch to put him at second. Pinch hitter Nate McLouth, who'd missed the previous four games with a viral infection, singled to tie it 3-all.

Milwaukee scored two runs for Sabathia in the sixth to take the big left-hander off the hook for the loss and put him in line for a win, but the bullpen gave it right back.

Pinch hitter Freddy Sanchez tripled off reliever David Riske after Cameron, in center field, couldn't make a diving catch. Sanchez scored off Nyjer Morgan's single with one out in the seventh to tie it at 2.

Milwaukee took a 2-1 lead when Corey Hart doubled to start the sixth and scored on a single by Cameron. Pinch hitter Gabe Kapler, who came in for Sabathia, singled in the second run with two outs off Pirates starter Paul Maholm.

Sabathia, the AL Cy Young winner last year who had his second no-decision since coming to Milwaukee in a July 7 trade, wasn't as sharp as previous starts but worked out of two jams until allowing three straight singles with two outs in the fifth, capped by Doumit's RBI flare.

Sabathia finished six innings. He struck out Adam LaRoche to end the fifth, and LaRoche was ejected from the game along with manager John Russell a half-inning later for arguing the high strike with home plate umpire Bob Davidson.

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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