to make them tackier, which has a noticeable effec

MILWAUKEE -- Mike Fiers held Pittsburgh to two hits in seven innings for his fourth straight win since coming up from Triple-A, and the Milwaukee Brewers avoided a three-game sweep at home by beating the Pirates 4-3 on Sunday. Fiers (4-1) fanned seven. He allowed Starling Martes two-run shot in the second before retiring 16 of the next 17 batters. Closer Francisco Rodriguez gave up a homer to Andrew McCutchen with one in the ninth. Rodriguez put the tying run aboard with two outs with a walk before striking out Pedro Alvarez for his 39th save. Milwaukee knocked around Vance Worley (5-4) for four runs over the first two innings, with each hit coming with two outs. Pittsburgh had its three-game winning streak snapped and dropped to five back in the NL Central. Jonathan Lucroy hit his National League-leading 43rd double for the Brewers, who snapped a three-game losing streak to increase their lead in the Central to 1 1/2 games over second-place St. Louis. Lucroy singled home a run in the second after Carlos Gomez reached on a two-out double to left-centre that glanced off McCutchens glove. Aramis Ramirez followed two batters later with his second single of the day to drive home Lucroy for a 4-2 lead. The Pirates had tied it at 2 in the top of the second after Marte homered on to the concourse above left-centre. But Fiers allowed just Russell Martins single in the fourth from there, getting out of that inning with a pretty over-the-shoulder catch with two outs by shortstop Elian Herrera in shallow centre to save a potential hit. Fiers fastball tops only at about 90 mph. But he has succeeded since stepping into the rotation for the injured Matt Garza by mixing pitches and keeping the ball down in the zone. Fiers cooled off a Pirates offence that had at least 11 hits in its two previous games. Worley settled down after the first two innings, retiring 13 of 15 until leaving with one out in the seventh after allowing back-to-back singles. The right-hander allowed a season-high 12 hits, eight coming in the rough first two innings. TRAINERS ROOM PIRATES: INF Clint Barmes could rejoin the team during a three-game series against St. Louis, which starts Monday in Pittsburgh. Barmes has been on the disabled list since July 6 with strained left groin. BREWERS: Garza, who was supposed to throw a light bullpen session Sunday, is recovering from a strained rib cage muscle. Manager Ron Roenicke said Garza will throw again Tuesday if Sundays bullpen outing went well. Garza went on the disabled list Aug. 5. UP NEXT PIRATES: LHP Francisco Liriano (3-10) will try to rebound from a tough outing when he opens the Cardinals series. He gave up nine runs in four-plus innings in an 11-3 loss last week to Atlanta. BREWERS: RHP Kyle Lohse (11-7) returns to the rotation to open a three-game series in San Diego. Lohse hasnt started since Aug. 13 because of a right ankle injury. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Jersey . The 7-foot-1 Hawes, who is in the final year of his contract, is averaging 13 points and 8.5 rebounds, both career highs, and shoots 40 per cent from 3-point range. The 25-year-old Hawes is in his seventh NBA season. Womens Clippers Jerseys . - A late-game interception by defensive back Malcolm Butler saved the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots. http://www.cheapclippersjerseyschina.com/ .com) - The Utah Jazz look to put an end to their five-game losing streak when the Denver Nuggets visit Salt Lake City Monday night. Authentic Clippers Jerseys . The shortstop still grieves, but it will be nights like the one Segura had in a 5-2 victory Monday over the Cincinnati Reds that will provide some distraction. Youth Clippers Jerseys . Ozuna hit Reeds 2-2 pitch off the batters eye far above the 407-foot sign in straightaway centre. It was the fifth blown save in 25 tries for Reed (1-5) and the ninth home run the closer has allowed in 38 appearances. Nuno, acquired in the deal that sent Brandon McCarthy to the New York Yankees, gave up three hits, struck out a career-high seven and walked one in seven innings.FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Saying his team followed every rule to the letter, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick described in detail how his team prepares its footballs on game day and defended his players from chatter that they made it to the Super Bowl by cheating.At no time was there any intent whatsoever to try to compromise the integrity of the game or to gain an advantage, Belichick said in an unscheduled availability on Saturday afternoon, eight days before the Patriots will play the Seattle Seahawks for the NFL championship.Quite the opposite: we feel like we followed the rules of the game to the letter, he said. We try to do everything right. We err on the side of caution. Its been that way now for many years. Anything thats close, we stay as far away from the line as we can.Speaking once again with authority on a topic he previously professed ignorance of, Belichick said the team conducted an internal study on the process of getting game balls ready.Most of the steps are designed to make them tackier, which has a noticeable effect on how it feels, he said, but the process could also affect the pressure inside the ball, which is harder to tell by touch.Im not a scientist. Im not an expert in footballs; Im not an expert in football measurements, Belichick said. Im just telling you what I know.The Patriots reached the Super Bowl for the sixth time in Belichicks tenure when they beat the Colts 45-7 in the AFC championship game on Sunday. But later that night, Indianapolis TV station WTHR reported that some of the game balls provided by New England for the use of its offence werent sufficiently inflated.The NFL said its initial investigation confirmed that some of the footballs used in the first half of the conference title game were underinflated. On Thursday, Belichick deferred questions on the game balls to Brady; the quarterback also denied any impropriety.Wide receiver Matthew Slater, who also serves as the teams union rep, said Saturday that the players had been instructed by the NFLPA not to comment on the situation.But in the slow news off-days before Super Bowl week, the allegations received disproportionate attention — and Twitter hashtags such as Deflategate and Ballghazii — along with comparisons to the videotaping scandal of 2007, when the Patriots were hit with unprecedented penalties after Belichick was caught recording opposing coaches sending in signals from the sidelines.ddddddddddddBelichick denied that there is a pattern of rule-breaking, or even of pushing the rules to their limit.It was wrong. We were disciplined for it. Thats it. We never did it again. Were never going to do it again, Belichick said of the scandal that came to be known as Spygate. And anything else thats close, were not going to do either.A football lifer who only seems happy on the sidelines, if at all, Belichick is known for an absolute attention to detail that prepares his team for every imaginable situation.But instead of getting ready for the Super Bowl, he said he has spent far too much time the past week studying the science and learning about bladders, air gauges, stitching, pressure, game day football preparation, rubdowns and so forth.Im embarrassed to talk about the amount of time that Ive put into this relative to the other important challenge in front of us, he said. It sounds simple, and Im not trying to say that were trying to land a guy on the moon, but there are a lot of things here that are a little hard to get a handle on.But Belichick seemed most emotional when he came to the defence of his team. Among the questions he and his players have been asked this week is whether they cheated to get to the Super Bowl.Belichick praised his players, who went 12-4 in the regular season, won an 11th division title in 12 years, made a fourth straight trip — and ninth overall — to the conference championship game, and have a chance for a fourth NFL title in his tenure.Theyre a physically and mentally tough team that works hard, that trains hard, that prepares hard and have met every challenge that I put in front of them, he said.This team was the best team in the AFC in the regular season. ... The best team in the post-season, thats what this team is. I know that because Ive been with them every day. 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