Bucs and Brew Crew battle down to the wire as PIT takes 2 of 3

9/13 - Forbes Field
Randy Wolf (0-4, 6.93) vs Woodie Fryman (4-1, 3.77)
66-PIT 4, 11-MIL 2

The Bucs jumped out to a 4-0 lead after 4 innings as Randy Wolf turned in another mediocre performance for the Brew Crew (4 runs / 6 IP).  Woodie Fryman, on the other hand, gave up just 1 run while fanning 6 in 7 1/3 innings of stellar work.  Pete Mikkelsen notched his 4th save by grinding his way to through the final 5 outs.  Betancourt and Hairston led off the top of the 9th with singles off Pittsburgh's sinkerballing reliever.  The sinker sunk so well that Lucroy hit into a routine 6-4-3 DP.  Pinch hitter Nyjer Morgan singled home Betancourt to make it 4-2, but got thrown out stealing with Corey Hart up to end the game.  Matty Alou had 3 of the Bucs 7 hits to spike his season average to .447.  8th place hitter Jose Pagan knocked in 2 runs.  All of Pittsburgh's production came from the bottom third of their order.

9/14 - Forbes Field
Zack Greinke (5-0, 2.25) vs Tommie Sisk (2-2, 1.67)

Brewers 2, Pirates 1

Tom Sisk was darn good.  Zach Greinke was flat out awesome, shutting out the high octane Pirate offense while scattering 8 hits over 7 2/3 innings.  Milwaukee struck for 2 runs (1 earned) off of Sisk in the top of the 5th to break a scoreless tie.  Corey "I wear my sunglasses at night" Hart doubled home Greinke, who reached first on an error by Donn Clendenon at first.  Nyjer Morgan's RBI single made it 2-0.  The Bucs finally got on the board in the 9th when Bob Bailey hit a solo blast with 2 out, but John Axford closed it down for his 6th save of the year.

9/15 - Miller Field
Vern Law (3-3, 6.59) vs Shaun Marcum (1-1, 1.85)

Pirates 3, Brewers 2

The Deacon, Vern Law, finally found his stride with 8 glorious innings of 1 run ball.  After 7 innings he was still down 1-0 to the Brew Crew, who scored a solo run in the 5th when Weeks singled home Gomez.  Marcum was on cruise control yielding just 3 hit over 6 shutout innings before giving way to the pen.  Latroy Hawkings and K-Rod both melted down to the tune tune of 3 runs to give the Bucs their first lead of the day.  After Maz grounded out to his opposite number at second Pagliaroni and the Deacon both singled.  Stick Michael pinch ran for Pags, but his services really weren't needed when Matty Alou tripled to straight away center to score both runners easily.  Gene Alley bunted Alou home to make it 3-0.  Neither team scored in their next AB.  Roy Face came on in relief of Law, who gave his team 8 outstanding innings of work.  The first 2 batters (Kotsay & Hart) led off with singles.  Gomez popped out to third.  The "Hebrew Hammer", Ryan Braun walked on 5 pitches to load the bases with 1 out.  Prince Fielder lined a single to center to score Kotsay.  Hart was waived around third and headed for home to test Alou's sub par arm.  Alou scooped the ball cleanly and delivered a 1 hop throw to backup catcher Jesse Gonder, who swiped a tag on Hart a second before he was to touch the plate.  That was it for Face, who was barely effective at best.  Mikkelsen came on to pop Weeks up for the final out and his 5th save of the season.