Fielder Sets Club Record As Brewers Win

MILWAUKEE - Prince Fielder set a franchise record with his 13th homer this month, J.J. Hardy drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Florida Marlins 4-3 on Thursday night.

Corey Hart doubled with two outs in the eighth and Hardy followed with a single off Matt Lindstrom (0-2) for his team-leading 46th RBI.

The Marlins made a move to improve their bullpen late Thursday, agreeing to send reliever Randy Messenger to the San Francisco Giants for struggling closer Armando Benitez.

The struggling Brewers have lost seven of nine and are 6-14 since starting 24-10, but snapped the Marlins' six-game road winning streak.

Fielder got to Wes Obermueller in the fourth for a two-run homer off the bottom of the batter's eye in center field to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead.

Fielder moved into a tie with the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez for the major league lead with 19 homers overall. He also set a franchise record for homers in any month, surpassing 12 set by Gorman Thomas (August 1979) and tied by Greg Vaughn (June 1996) and Jeromy Burnitz (June 1999).

Milwaukee's bullpen held up a day after its relievers allowed eight runs in the final two innings of a 9-3 loss to Atlanta. Carlos Villanueva (4-0) threw two scoreless innings and Francisco Cordero earned his 19th save in as many chances.

The Marlins, on an 11-game, 10-day road trip, had started 3-0 and were looking to get back to .500 for the first time since May 4, but they squandered a bunch of opportunities, including a bases-loaded threat with one out in the fourth.

Brewers starter Claudio Vargas struck out Alfredo Amezaga and got Dan Uggla to pop out to get out of the fourth. Vargas went six innings, giving up three runs and six hits with two walks. He struck out six.

Obermueller, who pitched for the Brewers from 2003-05, looked much sharper than his previous start, when he gave up seven runs and eight hits in four innings against the Mets.

He went seven innings against Milwaukee and allowed six hits and three runs. Miguel Cabrera drove in two runs for Florida.

Hardy went 3-for-4 with two RBIs for Milwaukee.

Notes:@ Third base umpire Eric Cooper wasn't on the field when the game started after "traffic issues" kept him from the ballpark. Cooper arrived and ran out to his position after three batters in the top of the first. ... Brewers 2B Rickie Weeks (right wrist) missed his second straight game. ... Marlins RHP Josh Johnson (right elbow) will make a rehab start Sunday for Single-A Jupiter. ... Marlins 1B Mike Jacobs (broken right thumb) will not participate in baseball activities for the next three to five days.