MILWAUKEE — Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder hit back-to-back homers and Zack Greinke remained perfect at Miller Park to lift the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.

Braun and Fielder homered in the eighth after the Pirates had chased Greinke (11-4) with two runs earlier in the inning. Milwaukee won its 10th straight at Miller Park against Pittsburgh and is a major league best 42-15 at home this year.

The 2009 AL Cy Young winner struck out nine and retired 11 straight at one point as Milwaukee maintained its four-game lead over St. Louis in the division race.

Milwaukee built a 4-0 lead off Paul Maholm (6-13) before the Pirates rallied, only to have Braun and Fielder answer right back.

The Pirates are 11 games back in the NL Central and continue their skid out of contention with their 14th loss in 17 games. Pittsburgh finally figured out Greinke with run-scoring doubles by Michael McKenry and Andrew McCutchen in the eighth.

But Braun, who also hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth, led off the bottom of the inning with a homer and Fielder hit another fastball from Joe Beimel to right field for his 28th home run the season.

Jonathan Lucroy added a two-out RBI single off Jose Veras and reliever Francisco Rodriguez followed with his first career hit in his second at-bat on an infield single that caused the Brewers bullpen to celebrate wildly.

It may cost Milwaukee.

Rodriguez warmed up for the ninth, but left after talking to trainer Roger Caplinger. The Brewers said Rodriguez exited with a right leg cramp, but he was stretching his left leg after he awkwardly stepped on the bag to beat Garrett Jones to first for his hit.

Greinke is 8-0 with a 3.36 ERA in 10 starts in Milwaukee this year. He allowed a first-inning single to Xavier Paul before retiring 11 straight — including five consecutive strikeouts to finish two short of the franchise record set by Steve Woodard in 1999.

After allowing three hits in the first seven innings, Greinke began to tire in the eighth and left with two outs after McCutchen’s double. Rodriguez got the final out before Braun and Fielder’s fireworks and then was later forced to hit.

Milwaukee is now 14-2 in a stretch of 16 straight games against NL Central opponents after the Pirates and Cardinals led the division just over two weeks ago.

Josh Wilson singled in Milwaukee’s first run in the second. The veteran infielder is one of three Brewers filling in for the injured Rickie Weeks. Weeks is expected to miss two to four more weeks with a badly sprained left ankle, even though the Brewers are 12-2 without the All-Star second baseman in the lineup.

Casey McGehee tripled in two more in the third before Braun’s sacrifice gave Milwaukee a 4-0 lead and put the Brewers on their way to their 34th home win in the last 37 games against the Pirates.

Notes: Maholm lost his fourth straight. … The Pirates activated RHP Ross Ohlendorf from the 60-day disabled list and immediately optioned him to Triple-A Indianapolis. Ohlendorf has been out since April with a strained shoulder. … Brewers RHP Marco Estrada (2-8, 4.80 ERA) faces RHP Kevin Correia (12-10, 4.78) in Saturday’s game. Estrada is starting after LHP Chris Narveson was placed on the 15-day DL after cutting his thumb and needing eight stitches. … Narveson said he hopes he can resume throwing in the next few days and return as soon as he can on Aug. 22.

(Sports Network) – The Pittsburgh Pirates can begin one last improbable charge
toward the top of the National League’s Central Division tonight at Miller
Park, as they open a three-game series with the front-running Milwaukee
Brewers.

The Pirates were among the league’s biggest success stories for the season’s
first half, getting a share of the division for a brief spell and staying in
contention until a 10-game losing streak in late July and early August.

The dip pushed them below .500 for the season and to the fringes of contention
in the division, where they now trail the Brewers by 10 games after winning
two of three in San Francisco earlier in the week.

Milwaukee stretched its lead to four games over second-place St. Louis by
taking two of three in a series that ended Thursday, when Chris Carpenter
pitched eight strong innings and Albert Pujols went 4-for-4 with a homer and
two RBI as the Cardinals won, 5-2, to avoid a sweep.

Mark Kotsay and Prince Fielder both had RBI hits for the Brewers, who lost for
just the second time in their last 15 games. They grounded into four double
plays.

Yovani Gallardo (13-8) was saddled with the loss after allowing seven hits and
five runs — four earned — over five frames.

On Wednesday in San Francisco, Matt Diaz finished 2-for-4 with two RBI as
Pittsburgh plundered San Francisco, 9-2.

Ryan Ludwick added three hits, an RBI and two runs scored, while Andrew
McCutchen hit a two-run homer, walked three times and crossed the plate on
four occasions for the Pirates.

Jeff Karstens (9-6) worked six innings, allowing eight hits and two runs while
fanning nine for the win.

Milwaukee sends right-hander Zack Greinke to the mound, where he’ll face the
Pirates for the third time in his career.

The 27-year-old Floridian has won each of the first two meetings while
allowing a combined seven runs on 13 hits in 11 1/3 innings.

Lately, Greinke has won three straight outings, defeating the Chicago Cubs,
St. Louis and Houston while allowing 14 hits and three runs in 19 2/3 innings.

He’s been perfect at home in his first season with the Brewers, winning all
seven decisions in nine starts while posting a 3.49 earned run average.

Paul Maholm goes for the Pirates in search of his first win since July 10.

The Mississippi native was 6-9 on the season after a 9-1 defeat of the Cubs
that night, but has since dropped three decisions in five starts as his ERA
has ballooned from 2.96 to 3.54.

Maholm, a lefty, gave up 10 hits and seven runs in 6 2/3 innings of his last
outing, a 13-2 loss to San Diego on Aug. 6.

Maholm is 3-7 in 18 career starts against Milwaukee.

Milwaukee has won all five meetings with Pittsburgh this season and is 18-5 in
this series since the start of the 2010 campaign.

The Sports Network

By Dan Moore

– Managing Editor

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Jul 16, 2011 – The St. Louis Cardinals came back twice in their hard-luck loss against the Cincinnati Reds, but home-field advantage turned out to be the difference-maker when Brandon Phillips hit a walk-off home run against closer Fernando Salas in the bottom of the ninth inning. But the real shocker: With the Cardinals’ loss and their own win, the Pittsburgh Pirates are now first in the National League Central. 

The good news for Cardinals fans, such as it is, is that Albert Pujols appears to be all the way back. After Chris Heisey robbed him of a home run in the first inning, Pujols hit a scorching 400-footer off of dinged-up Reds superprospect Aroldis Chapman to put the Cardinals on top in the eighth inning. It wasn’t enough, but Pujols is now hitting .282/.357/.508 on the year and has seven hits—including two home runs and a double—in his last three games. 

The Pirates’ win is the feel-good story of the season for disinterested observers, but it’s good news for the Cardinals, too, who’d probably rather chase them than the Brewers, who lost to fall a half-game behind both clubs. 

Read More: Brandon Phillips (2B – CIN), Albert Pujols (1B – STL), Fernando Salas (P – STL), St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates