MILWAUKEE -- J.J. Hardy and the Milwaukee Brewers kept their post-season hopes alive for another day. All it took was a little patience.
Back home at Miller Park, the Brewers got three hits from Hardy and a sharp outing from Dave Bush to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 Saturday night and stave off elimination in the NL division series.
Brewers starter Dave Bush unleashes a pitch in Game 3 of their National League division series against Philadelphia Saturday night in Milwaukee.
"Tonight was big for us," Hardy said. "I think we're going to be able to relax a little bit more and come out and play early tomorrow."
Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun each had a sacrifice fly for Milwaukee, making its first trip to the post-season since 1982. Hardy and Jason Kendall added RBI singles.
The Brewers will send Jeff Suppan to the mound in Game 4 today, hoping to draw even in the best-of-five series. Joe Blanton will start for Philadelphia.
"It was good to really create some pressure for them," Brewers outfielder Mike Cameron said. "We haven't played well the first two games, but today it was all about the energy. We were able to feed off of it and get out early and put a little pressure on their team."
After CC Sabathia and Yovani Gallardo flopped in Philly, Bush allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings to help send the best-of-five series to a fourth game on Sunday.
Three relievers stymied the Phillies before Salomon Torres worked a rocky ninth inning for the save. Philadelphia loaded the bases with no outs and Pedro Feliz hit a double-play grounder to third that appeared to drive in Ryan Howard.
But Shane Victorino, who hit a grand slam off Sabathia in Game 2, was called for interference when he didn't slide into second. The runners were sent back to second and third, and Carlos Ruiz tapped back to Torres for the final out.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel continued to discuss the play with umpires after the game.
"I've seen times, probably, when they didn't call that, but the umpire is standing right there on it," Manuel said.
Only seven teams in baseball history have come back from an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five playoff series -- but the '82 Brewers were one of them.
The Brewers managed just three runs and seven hits as the Phillies won the first two games convincingly. But Milwaukee showed some patience facing Jamie Moyer in Game 3 that was noticeably lacking in Philadelphia.
It was a surprising development for an offence that made it to the playoffs with a homer-or-nothing mentality.
-- The Associated Press
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