Edmonds, Braun and Brewers batter Pirates 20-0

[April 23, 2010]  PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Ryan Braun, Jim Edmonds and the Milwaukee Brewers went totally batty.

The Brew Crew piled up 25 hits Thursday and trounced Pittsburgh 20-0, handing the Pirates the most-lopsided loss in their 124-year history.

"It was fun and it was special," said Braun, who homered, doubled, singled and drove in five runs. "This game is really so much about failure, particularly as a hitter, that you rarely get a day where everyone is enjoying so much success at the same time."

"I've never been involved in a game like this and I likely never will be again. So, I enjoyed it and I'll savor it. It's one to remember," he said.

Milwaukee matched a club mark for margin of victory and set a record for its biggest shutout win.

Prince Fielder hit his first home run of the season while Edmonds and George Kottaras also connected -- they were among 10 Brewers with an RBI. Milwaukee finished with 12 extra-base hits.

Milwaukee led 10-0 after five innings then scored six runs in the seventh and four more in the ninth. The rout came a day after the Brewers beat up Pittsburgh 8-0.

Edmonds doubled twice and singled. Rickie Weeks doubled twice, singled and scored four times.

"Now that was something else," Milwaukee manager Ken Macha said.

Randy Wolf (2-1) pitched six scoreless innings and three relievers finished up. The Brewers won their fourth in a row and gave Pittsburgh its third straight loss.

Daniel McCutchen (0-2) was tagged for six runs and eight hits in 3 2-3 innings. Remarkably, his ERA stayed the same as it was entering the game, 14.73.

"Lots of times, it felt like I was throwing batting practice to them," McCutchen said.

The Brewers also won by 20 in 1992 when they beat Toronto 22-2. The Pirates' previous one-sided loss was by 18 runs, done twice.

Milwaukee swept the three-game series and outscored the Pirates 36-1. Pittsburgh has lost eight times this season, by at least six runs each time and 85-13 overall.

According to STATS LLC, it was the fifth most-lopsided shutout in modern major league history, which began in 1900. The Indians beat the Yankees 22-0 in 2004 and the Pirates beat the Cubs by the same score in 1975. The 35-run differential in a three-game series tied for the third largest; the largest was 40 runs (50-10) by the Superbas, now the Dodgers, over the Reds in 1901.

"They came in and kicked our butt," Pittsburgh manager John Russell said. "Whoever comes in is going to do that if we don't pitch well. We need to learn from this game. We don't want to do this anymore."

Braun hit a three-run homer to end a nine-pitch at-bat in the third inning to push Milwaukee's lead to 4-0 and added a two-run double. Fielder took a while to hit a home run -- he tied for second in the NL last year with 46.

Wolf allowed six hits and improved his career record against Pittsburgh to 8-1. Claudio Vargas, Manny Parra and Trevor Hoffman each pitched one inning.

Fielder started the scoring with his solo home run to center field in the second inning and Braun's drive in the third made it 4-0.

Fielder hit a two-run single in the fourth off D.J. Carrasco. An inning later, Kottaras homered and Braun doubled for a 10-0 cushion.

Edmonds' homer highlighted a six-run seventh off Joel Hanrahan and closer Octavio Dotel gave up four runs in the ninth.

"Games like these are awkward," Edmonds said. "You don't want to keep piling on the runs but you also have to respect the game and keep playing. It was just a day where everything went right for us and everything went wrong for them."

NOTES: Fielder is playing with a sore left hand, the result of getting jammed by a number of inside pitches in recent days, according to Macha. ... Pittsburgh 3B Andy LaRoche (back spasms) missed his fifth straight game. Russell is hopeful he can play Friday night at Houston. ... Milwaukee is 37-12 against the Pirates over the last four seasons.

[Associated Press]

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