For the Pittsburgh Pirates, using some trickery to beat the nemesis Milwaukee Brewers by two runs made up for losing to them by 20. Ryan Doumit drove in the go-ahead run, Steve Pearce added his third hit during Pittsburgh's three-run seventh inning and Andy LaRoche finished off the 6-4 victory Wednesday night with a variation of the hidden-ball trick. The Brewers have lost nine straight, their longest slide since losing 10 straight late in the 2006 season. And they couldn't blame this one on reliever Trevor Hoffman. He's sitting out the two-game series as he sorts out his season-long struggles that include losing a ninth-inning lead Tuesday in Cincinnati. This one got away from Milwaukee well before the ninth inning, even if Pittsburgh waited until then to extract some revenge for that 20-0 loss to Milwaukee on April 22 -- the worst defeat in club history. Milwaukee swept that three-game series by a combined score of 36-1, then beat the Pirates 17-3 for their 22nd consecutive home win over them on April 26. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=300519123
