PITTSBURGH _ The Milwaukee Brewers turned in one of their most memorable victories of the season on Sunday afternoon, and Craig Counsell wasn't even around to see most of it.
Ejected in the third inning after an argument with crew chief Brian Gorman, the skipper missed Jonathan Villar's pinch-hit grand slam that broke the game open in the sixth and then a whole bunch more offense as the Brewers went on to blast the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-0, at PNC Park.
Domingo Santana also homered twice and Chase Anderson pitched five strong innings as Milwaukee answered last weekend's four-game sweep by Pittsburgh at Miller Park with a three-gamer of its own.
The Brewers also shut out the Pirates in two of the three games, thanks to both high-quality starting pitching and a strong effort from the bullpen.
Milwaukee went ahead, 1-0, in the second inning on Santana's homer to center off Steven Brault _ his first round-tripper since June 4.
The Brewers were still holding that slim advantage in the third when the game took a turn into the bizarre.
It started when Orlando Arcia drew a two-out walk. Hernan Perez followed with a grounder to third, on which Adam Frazier made a poor throw to first.
John Jaso collided with Perez in the baseline as the ball sailed past, and Arcia came around to score. After several lengthy discussions, the umpires called obstruction on Jaso. Because Perez hadn't reached first base, the ball was ruled dead and Arcia was placed back at third and Perez at first.
That ruling didn't sit well with Counsell, who on his second trip out of the dugout was tossed by Gorman. After that delay _ which saw Pirates leftfielder Starling Marte actually lying down in left field for part of it _ Chris Carter flied out to leave the Brewers scoreless.
The ejection was the second of the season for Counsell and the fourth of his career.
There were a couple of other questionable calls that went against the Brewers in the ensuing innings, as well.
They challenged a fair call on a Harrison fly ball down the right-field line that appeared to fall well foul, but the call was upheld. Then in the fifth, Keon Broxton doubled and stole third but was called out. And because the Brewers lost their challenge on the Harrison play, they had no recourse on Broxton's.
Despite the turmoil, Anderson kept his wits and threw five scoreless innings. He was lifted for pinch-hitter Villar with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth, even though he had thrown just 65 pitches.
Villar rewarded the move in the best way possible, sending a 98 mph fastball from reliever Juan Nicasio just over the wall in left field for a grand slam _ the first of Villar's career � to open Milwaukee's lead up to 5-0.
It was the sixth pinch-hit grand slam in Brewers history and first since last Sept. 27, when Jason Rogers _ now with the Pirates _ hit one in the ninth inning in a victory at St. Louis. It was also the Brewers' second grand slam of the season, with Aaron Hill hitting the other on May 7 as part of his three-homer night in Cincinnati.
Villar had been held out of the starting lineup for the second straight game due to a sore left knee, a situation that pushed the Brewers to recall infielder Yadiel Rivera from Class AAA Colorado Springs before the game.
Tyler Cravy pitched two scoreless innings behind Anderson, and Jacob Barnes pitched another in the eighth.
Milwaukee broke the game open in the ninth by scoring five times off rookie Kelvin Marte. Perez drove in the first run with a groundout, Chris Carter followed with a three-run homer and one batter later Santana went deep again to give him his first career multi-homer game.
.png?w=600)
