Major League Baseball

Brewers 8, Twins 7

Published Jul. 3, 2011 5:04 a.m. ET

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A potentially awful road trip turned around quickly for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Pinch-hitter George Kottaras capped a four-run ninth inning with a a go-ahead RBI single that gave the Milwaukee Brewers an 8-7 win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night.

The Twins blew a 7-0 lead that they built on 13 hits in four innings. They had one hit the rest of the way.

Trailing 7-4, Milwaukee had three straight singles to open the ninth against closer Matt Capps (2-4). Nyjer Morgan then hit a two-out double high off the right-field wall to score the tying runs.

''He put a nice pitch low and away and I just happened to get the sweet spot of the bat on it,'' said Morgan, who was a single shy of hitting for the cycle on his 31st birthday. ''I thought I put it in the seats.''

Morgan scored when Kottaras' grounder went through the hole between second baseman Alexi Casilla and the bag, creating a roar by the thousands of Milwaukee fans that drowned out the boos of the Minnesota fans.

''You can't be successful here pitching up in the zone and that's what I was doing today. It's not acceptable. It sucks,'' said Capps, who blew his sixth save in 19 chances.

Activated off the 60-day disabled list earlier in the day, Takashi Saito (1-1) needed just 10 pitches - nine strikes - in an inning of scoreless relief and John Axford pitched the ninth for his 21st save in 23 chances.

''It was a nice outing for (Saito),'' manager Ron Roenicke said. ''I liked the pitches he was throwing. That's as good as you can do coming back after that length of time.''

Ryan Braun doubled to extend his hitting streak to 22 games for the Brewers, who ended a four-game slide. Milwaukee, which was outscored 22-4 in a sweep at Yankee Stadium earlier this week and lost 6-2 in Minnesota Friday, is 3-9 in its past 12 road games. The Brewers are 16-28 away from Miller Park, but 29-11 at home.

''From where we were sitting on this road trip, having a tough go and a tough go in this game too, putting a four-spot there against a pretty good closer to seal that win was awesome,'' said Axford. ''You can just feel all the energy in the clubhouse right now.''

Jonathan Lucroy got the Brewers started with an RBI single in the fifth, Morgan hit a two-run homer in the sixth and Braun had an RBI groundout off Twins starter Carl Pavano, who allowed eight hits and three earned runs in 7 2-3 innings.

''I thought this was a really important game to win, and the way we did it should be a big lift,'' Roenicke said.

Milwaukee starter Chris Narveson struggled to find his rhythm, allowing a career-high 14 hits and seven earned runs in 4 2-3 innings. He gave up two earned runs on five hits in 6 2-3 innings to beat Minnesota in his previous start.

Michael Cuddyer and Danny Valencia homered on consecutive pitches with one out in the third for a 3-0 lead.

Narveson retired the first two Twins hitters in the fourth before Alexi Casilla doubled off the left-field wall. After a walk to Joe Mauer, Cuddyer, Valencia, Hughes and Repko had RBI singles to make it 7-0.

''You have to turn the page on it,'' Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. ''It's frustrating and disappointing because we had a huge lead and they slowly got back in the game.''

Marco Estrada silenced the Minnesota bats with 2 1-3 innings of hitless relief before giving way to Saito.

''If the relievers put up zeros you give a good offense a chance to catch up,'' Roenicke said. ''I know we haven't been doing it. Today was really nice to see.''

NOTES: Braun left the game in the eighth inning with a strained left calf. He is day-to-day. ... The paid attendance of 41,378 was the largest regular-season crowd at Target Field. ... Minnesota Lynx stars Candice Wiggins and Maya Moore threw out the first pitch. Wiggins is the daughter of former big leaguer Alan Wiggins. ... Milwaukee optioned RHP Tim Dillard to Triple-A Nashville to make room for Saito. ... Minnesota LF Delmon Young, on the disabled list since June 26 with a sprained right ankle, is scheduled to leave Sunday for a rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester.

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