Prince Fielder's 8th inning homer leads Milwaukee Brewers past Florida Marlins 4-3
Associated Press | Apr 26, 08 9:21 PM CDT in
Sports
Prince Fielder hit a go-ahead solo home run in the eighth inning and also had an RBI single to power the Milwaukee Brewers past the Florida Marlins 4-3 on Saturday night.
Fielder's fourth home run of the season, a mammoth shot to dead center off reliever Renyel Pinto (1-1), broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the eighth. Pinto had not allowed a run in his previous 11 appearances.
It was Fielder's second game-winning home run in four days. He also homered twice against Philadelphia on Wednesday, with the game-winning blast coming in the eighth inning of a 5-4 victory.
Eric Gagne pitched the ninth for his seventh save in 11 chances.
Salomon Torres (3-0) got the win despite failing to protect a 3-2 lead when Josh Willingham grounded into a double play that scored Dan Uggla in the top of the eighth.
Fielder scored three times, including an unlikely run on a suicide squeeze in the second. With the bases loaded, the 270-lb slugger barreled down the line as Carlos Villanueva bunted toward pitcher Mark Hendrickson, who threw to first.
Fielder's run tied the game and snapped a string of 16 consecutive innings without scoring for the Brewers.
Hanley Ramirez hit a solo shot in the first for his eighth home run, his third leadoff homer this season.
Milwaukee stopped Hendrickson from picking up his fifth win. The 6-foot-9 left-hander had given up only seven total earned runs while winning a career-best four straight starts. He surrendered three runs _ two earned _ in six innings. He struck out three and walked one.
Milwaukee's Villanueva went six innings, allowing two runs and six hits with five strikeouts. Lifted for a pinch-hitter, he turned over a 3-2 lead to Torres to start the seventh.
Hendrickson led off the fifth with his first career triple and scored on Dan Uggla's sacrifice fly as the Marlins pulled to 3-2.
Fielder knocked in a run and later scored another as the Brewers went ahead 3-1 in the third.
Gabe Kapler doubled and scored on Fielder's single under the glove of shortstop Ramirez. A single and a walk load the bases before Fielder charged home on a sacrifice fly by J.J. Hardy.
Marlins first baseman Mike Jacobs fouled off a pitch in the fifth and immediately left the game with a sprained right middle finger.
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