Brewers 6, Pirates 4
Prince Fielder belted three homers and the host Milwaukee Brewers beat the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 Tuesday, moving closer to clinching home field for the first round of the playoffs.
The Brewers were on the verge of wrapping up the second-best record in the National League but Arizona rallied for six runs in the bottom of the 10th inning to beat Los Angeles 7-6 later Tuesday. Milwaukee leads the Diamondbacks by one game.
Fielder crushed his first two homers off Ross Ohlendorf, depositing a high fastball into the upper deck in right and golfing a low fastball over the fence in dead center.
With the score tied 4-4 in the seventh, Ryan Braun walked and Fielder sent a pitch by Jared Hughes (0-1) just inside the right-field foul pole to make a winner of LaTroy Hawkins (3-1). Fielder's five-RBI night gave him 120 for the season with 38 homers.
John Axford earned his 46th save in 48 chances with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Braun, vying with the New York Mets’ Jose Reyes for the NL batting title, went 1-for-2 with two walks and is hitting .335. If he can overtake Reyes (.336), Braun will become the first Brewer to a win a batting crown.
Milwaukee has won 42 of its last 48 meetings with Pittsburgh at Miller Park.