GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NL: FLORIDA (27-29) at MILWAUKEE (31-25)

Sheets outduels Willis; Hardy homers in Brewers win

<h3>MILWAUKEE 3, FLORIDA 0</h3>MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Ben Sheets pitched six scoreless inningsand outdueled Dontrelle Willis as the Milwaukee Brewers posted a3-0 victory over the Florida Marlins on Sunday to take three offour in the weekend series.

Prince Fielder and J.J. Hardy drove in runs for the Brewers, whowon a series for the first time in their last seven.

Sheets (6-3) allowed seven hits and a walk and struck out sevento record his fourth win in his last five starts.

Carlos Villanueva worked the seventh, Derrick Turnbow logged theeighth and Francisco Cordero pitched a perfect ninth for his21st save in as many chances this season.

The Marlins had runners in scoring position in every inning fromthe second through eighth but could not scratch out a run. TheBrewers scored one in the first on an RBI single by Fielder, onein the third on a single by Johnny Estrada and one in theseventh on J.J. Hardy's 16th home run.

Rookie Ryan Braun led off the third with a double, advanced tothird on a wild pitch and scored on a one-out single to left byJohnny Estrada.

Hardy greeted Florida reliever Henry Owens with his 16th homerun of the season in the seventh.

Willis (7-4) struggled all afternoon, yielding seven hits, sixwalks and two runs in six innings. He did not strike out abatter for the first time this season.

 

Sheets outduels Willis; Hardy homers in Brewers win

<h3>MILWAUKEE 3, FLORIDA 0</h3>MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Ben Sheets pitched six scoreless inningsand outdueled Dontrelle Willis as the Milwaukee Brewers posted a3-0 victory over the Florida Marlins on Sunday to take threeoff our in the weekend series.

Prince Fielder, J.J. Hardy and Johnny Estrada drove in runs forthe Brewers, who won a series for the first time in their lastseven.

The National League Central Division-leading Brewers' lastseries win was a three-game sweep over the Washington Nationalsat home May 7-9.

"It was a big series win, especially right before the Cubbiescome," said Hardy, referring to a three-game series with theChicago Cubs that starts Monday.

Sheets (6-3) allowed seven hits and a walk and struck out sevento record his fourth win in his last five starts.

"It was a good day," Sheets said. "I was working hard. It wastough work. They are good hitters. I'm on a pretty good roll,but we won a series and hopefully that carries over for us andwe get on a series roll again."

Sheets left the game after just six innings do to fatigue. Hehad thrown 99 pitches, including 69 strikes.

"I can count on one hand being gassed, today was one of them,"Sheets said. "When they shut the (outfield) panels, it was stiffand muggy in here. For the few innings it was shut, it tookits toll. Somedays you get out of it no problem if you haveeasy innings, but none of my innings were easy."

Carlos Villanueva worked the seventh, Derrick Turnbow logged theeighth and Francisco Cordero pitched a perfect ninth for his21st save in as many chances this season.

"It was really good pitching all the way around," Brewersmanager Ned Yost said. "Benny gave us six strong innings, thebullpen was great, and we beat a pretty good pitcher in Willis."

The Marlins had runners in scoring position in every inning fromthe second through eighth but could not scratch out a run.

"You've got to give credit to them to, making the right pitch atthe right time in big situations," Marlins manager FrediGonzalez said.

Sheets worked just one 1-2-3 inning, but managed to keep theMarlins off the scoreboard. In the fourth, he allowedconsecutive line-drive singles to Miguel Cabrera and JoshWillingham to lead off the inning, and then retired the nextthree batters on fly balls.

"Sheets was great today," Willis said. "A game like that,everything fell their way. We had him on the ropes a couple oftimes and he was able to pitch out of it. That's a sign of aguy that can deal with adversity. I feel like I'm that sameguy. I really like his resilience. I've always been a fan ofhis."

Since the Brewers swept the Nationals, Sheets has won fourtimes, equaling the same number of wins from the rest of theBrewers staff.

"Benny's always been our stopper," Yost said. "He's always beenthat guy that's our No. 1 guy."

Corey Hart led off the Brewers half of the first inning with awalked and eventually scored on Fielder's RBI single to right.

Rookie Ryan Braun led off the third with a double, advanced tothird on a wild pitch and scored on a one-out single to left byEstrada.

"It wasn't Dontrelle's best, but he battled," Gonzalez said. "Acouple ground balls right at people, and we'd still be playing."

Hardy greeted Florida reliever Henry Owens with his 16th homerun of the season in the seventh. Hardy said it was just thesecond home run of his professional career that he couldremember going to right field, and first this season.

"The (opposite field) power surprises me," Hardy said. "I don'tknow where that came from. They've been throwing the ball awaya lot and that's all I can do (with the pitch). I don't knowhow that happened."

Willis (7-4) struggled all afternoon, yielding seven hits, sixwalks and two runs in six innings. He did not strike out abatter for the first time this season.

"Today, I didn't feel like I was losing any confidence," Willissaid. "I felt if I could make a pitch I could get out of it,especially in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings when I slowedthe game down."