MILWAUKEE (AP) - Down by two runs in the ninth, Milwaukee refused to give in to the San Francisco Giants.
Prince Fielder hit a three-run homer in the sixth and then knocked in the winning run as the Milwaukee Brewers rallied with three runs in the ninth for a wild 7-6 win over the Giants on Saturday night.
"The odds of us coming back, I wouldn't say were slim, but real low," Fielder said.
With one out, pinch-hitter Craig Counsell singled to left. Brian Wilson (2-4), who blew his fourth save of the season, then walked Matt Gamel. Corey Hart, who had been hitless in his last 19 at-bats, followed with an RBI single.
J.J. Hardy slapped a shot off the glove off second baseman Juan Uribe and Gamel raced from second to beat the throw home and tie the game. One out later, Fielder doubled into the right-field corner scoring the winning run.
"(Wilson) is a great closer and to be able to come back like that is a good thing," Fielder said. "(It) gives us a good feeling."
The Giants had an early four-run lead, their starter Barry Zito looked strong through five innings and after blowing the lead, they forged ahead on two sacrifice flies in the top of the ninth of Trevor Hoffman.
"When you have a chance to put a dagger in them, you have to do it," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We've had a hard time doing that this season."
After reaching second base, Fielder then took a few steps toward the mound, stopped and raised his arms in celebration. He was immediately tackled by his jubilant teammates.
"That's as tough a game as you can have especially after we got two off Trevor and then we couldn't close it out," Bochy said.
Fielder knew that Wilson was capable of throwing in the 100s and used it to his advantage.
"I wasn't going to swing hard because he'll supply the power," the Brewers burly first baseman said.
Wilson' senses were on the opposite side of the emotional spectrum.
"If you lose a game, it's the same no matter what the price is," Wilson said. "It's always bitter to swallow."
The Giants had snapped a 4-4 tie in the top of the inning on sac flies by Bengie Molina and Edgar Renteria off Hoffman (1-1).
Center fielder Mike Cameron had kept the game tied at 4 in the seventh when he timed his leap perfectly and reached well over the wall in center to rob Nate Schierholtz of a home run.
"I had a good bead on it," Cameron said. "It was on the short side of the wall and I got my old legs to get up and go."
Zito looked strong for the second straight game before tiring.
He walked Hart and Ryan Braun before Fielder hit his 19th home run of the season to pull Milwaukee to 4-3 and chase him from the game. Reliever Brandon Medders tried to protect the slim lead, but Casey McGehee hit the first pitch to left for his fourth homer this season.
San Francisco jumped out to a quick lead on RBI singles by Travis Ishikawa and Uribe, and then Sandoval, who knocked in the Giants' only run with his ninth homer of the season in Friday's night's 5-1 loss to Milwaukee, homered to deep right-center.
Sandoval, who has reached base safely via a hit or walk in each of the last 22 games, made it 4-0 when he golfed a low outside pitch from rookie reliever Chris Smith for his second career multi-homer game this season.
NOTES: RHP Ryan Sadowski will make his debut on Sunday after the Giants purchase his contract prior to the game. The 26-year-old is (5-2) with a 4.11 ERA in 13 starts for Triple-A Fresno. ... INF Rich Aurilia will be placed on the Giants' bereavement list before Sunday's game due to the death of his father last week. ... The Brewers continued removing the tons of damage caused by last week's torrential thunderstorm that flooded the service level, including both clubhouses. More than 40 pallets of non-alcoholic beverages, promotional items, baseball bats and old file boxes waited to be hauled to the dumpsters along with two large-screen televisions. Approximately the same number of skids were removed on Friday.