Third-place Pittsburgh won its third consecutive game to pull within four of the NL Central-leading Brewers.

MILWAUKEE -- Pedro Alvarez made the most of his opportunity to play Saturday night. R.A. Dickey Jersey . The slumping slugger homered twice to break out of a 5-for-34 slide, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 10-2. "Anytime you can do something like that, especially when you help your team win a ballgame, is huge and it feels good," said Alvarez, who started for only the eighth time this month. Alvarez, making his second career start at first base, went 2 for 3 with four RBIs, a walk and his seventh stolen base. He said it is difficult to hit well when not playing regularly, but he approaches each game as though he is starting. "You have no other choice, its what you have to do," he said. "Its easier said than done sometimes, but the at-bats you do get every once in a while, you have to try to take advantage of them and create an environment where it feels like youre playing every day. Treat every at- bat with the same intensity, same focus." Alvarez hit a three-run shot in the fourth inning and a solo drive in the fifth against starter Wily Peralta (15-8). Russell Martin also connected for a three-run homer off the right-hander, who held the Pirates hitless for 3 2-3 innings but quickly fell apart and exited after five. Pittsburgh starter Edinson Volquez (11-7) pitched out of trouble almost every inning to improve to 3-0 in five August starts. The right-hander allowed 11 hits and two walks in 5 2-3 innings, but Milwaukee managed only two runs off him. "You got to the point, once those bases were loaded, he was able to put a foot down and just stop it with quality pitches in quality locations," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. Third-place Pittsburgh won its third consecutive game to pull within four of the NL Central-leading Brewers. Each team had 12 hits, but Pittsburgh took advantage of its chances while Milwaukee squandered its opportunities. "Our big boys were up when we needed them up, but they got the big hits when we didnt," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. Martin was 2 for 4 with four RBIs, a double and a walk. Neil Walker went 3 for 4 with a double, a walk and three RBIs. Scooter Gennett hit his ninth homer in the second for Milwaukee. PREP WORK After Pittsburgh took a 3-2 lead in the fourth, the Brewers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half. Volquez got Ryan Braun to pop out and then struck out Aramis Ramirez to end the threat. "I stayed with the scouting report, basically with the fastball inside," Volquez said. RARE SUCCESS The Pirates have won the first two games of the series but still are only 39-77 at Miller Park. "This place has been a lot of a Rubiks Cube when we come in here and play. But we always turn the page," Hurdle said. STILL RESTING Pirates rookie Gregory Polanco, in a 1-for-27 slump, was on the bench for the fourth consecutive game. BASERUNNING BLUNDER With the Brewers down 9-2 in the sixth, Carlos Gomez was thrown out by a step trying to advance from first to third on a sharp single to left. Starling Martes throw to Josh Harrison easily beat Gomez for the second out of the inning. TRAINERS ROOM Pirates: INF Clint Barmes has gone 3 for 15 in four rehab games with Triple-A Indianapolis. Hes been on the disabled list since July 6 with a left groin injury. ... RHP Stolmy Pimentel (mild right ankle sprain) pitched a scoreless inning Thursday night to begin his rehab assignment with Double-A Altoona. Brewers: RHP Matt Garza will throw a bullpen session Sunday. Hes been on the DL with a left oblique strain since Aug. 5, retroactive to Aug. 4. UP NEXT Pirates RHP Vance Worley (5-3) looks to bounce back from his worst start of the season when the teams conclude a three-game series Sunday. Worley allowed a season-high six runs in six innings Monday during a 7-3 loss to Atlanta. Mike Fiers (3-1) will make his fourth start since replacing Garza in the rotation. Fiers has won all three of his previous starts and has a 0.86 ERA in those games. Babe Ruth Jersey .com) - The Winnipeg Jets got over one hurdle by snapping their longest losing streak of the season. Dansby Swanson Jersey . - The RBC Canadian Open will return to Glen Abbey Golf Club next year, marking the 27th time that the national open championship will be played at the Oakville, Ont. http://www.bravesapparelsshop.com/tom-glavine-jersey-c-14/ . With just under five seconds remaining - the Raptors having clawed back from a 19-point deficit and pulled within one - DeRozan took the handoff from Chuck Hayes.EDMONTON -- There was plenty of post-Olympic rust to go around, but none seemed to stick to Darcy Kuemper in the Minnesota Wilds net. Kuemper made 21 saves to earn his second career shutout as Minnesota returned from the Olympic break on a winning note, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 on Thursday night. "We did a real good job, we were aware of the situation and everyone was focused tonight," Kuemper said. "It was just a solid team game tonight. We had seven days of practice. You just use the first two practices to get the fundamentals back and then you worry about the next game. I stuck to my game and obviously the team played great in front of me." Mikael Granlund, Stephane Veilleux and Dany Heatley scored for the Wild (32-21-7) who won their third game in a row. "I think thats our biggest strength, to have a good defensive game," Granlund said. "I thought we played good defensively and Kemps had a good game in net. We didnt give them too much." Wild head coach Mike Yeo said his team played far from perfect, but they will take the win anyway. "I dont think that we played this game at the level that we headed into the break at and I think thats normal," he said. "I was impressed with the detail and the structure in a lot of areas, but I think our puck work can get a little better in some areas too." The Oilers (20-34-7) have lost two in a row after winning five of their previous six. "It was pretty embarrassing," said Edmonton forward David Perron. "Nothing was going right for us. We couldnt generate any offence and our defence wasnt good. It was an awful game." It was the fifth time this season that the Oilers have been shutout at home and eighth time this season they have failed to score in a game. "Thats not how we wanted to come back from the break at all. It seemed like there was a lot of rust on our team," said Oilers forward Taylor Hall. "Whether that was the break or whatever, it doesnt really matter. They had the same break that we did and we just didnt play well." Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins thought neither team really looked that good on their return to action following the long break. "That was an ugly hockey game, I thought for both teams," he said. "It was quite amazing watching this game the number of players falling down with nothing going on around them and passes going behind players. It was firmly two teamss coming off of a long break. Danny Santana Jersey. ." The game started with a bang as Oilers forward Matt Hendricks checked Wild defenceman Nate Prosser in to the boards in the first minute of play. Prosser was helped to the dressing room and did not return until the second period. Minnesota got revenge for the hit by taking a 1-0 lead a minute later as Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens was caught out of position as Zach Parise fed the puck in front to Granlund who had an empty net to put his teams first shot of the game into. Each team only accounted for six first period shots apiece, with Edmontons best chance coming late in the period when a high bounce flipped off of Kuempers back and landed in the crease before being sent to safety by Jared Spurgeon. Kuemper made a big save of his own seven minutes into the second as he was quick to come across and rob Jordan Eberle at the side of the net on the tail end of an Oiler power play. Minnesota made it 2-0 midway through the second period as Erik Huala fought off Oiler Anton Belov behind the net to send a backhand to a primed and ready Veilleux who blasted a one-timer from the top of the circle past Scrivens for just his second goal of the season. The Wild took a three-goal lead midway through the third as Charlie Coyle made a nice play to swing out from behind the net and find Heatley in front, who lifted his 12th of the season over a sprawling Scrivens. Notes: Both teams saw some success before the pause in the NHL schedule as the Oilers were 5-1-1 in their previous seven games, while the Wild were 4-1-2 in their last seven. Edmonton only allowed 12 goals during that seven-game stretcha The Wild have had a great deal of success against Edmonton in recent years, coming into the game having won five of six and 14 of its last 17 versus the Oilers, including seven of their last eight appearances in Edmontona Minnesota forward Mikko Koivu is reportedly close to returning but remained out with an ankle injury for Thursdays gamea Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom returned from an abdominal injury dating back to Jan. 30, but served as the backup to Kuempera It was Edmontons only home game in all of February. The Oilers last home date was on Jan. 29 when Scrivens set an NHL record for most saves in a shutout with 59 in a 3-0 victory over the San Jose Sharksa Oiler forward Nail Yakupov took a shot to the right ankle from teammate Justin Schultz in the third and did not return. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '