Redman survives line drive, helps Pirates beat Brewers

His knee suffered a shot off the bat of Carlos Lee, but he finished the inning in the 4-2 victory.
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Pittsburgh manager Lloyd McClendon thought Carlos Lee's line drive had shattered Mark Redman's kneecap. Redman was hurting so bad he didn't dare look because he figured his knee was blown open.
"I thought I was bleeding," Redman said. "It felt like a gunshot."
Catcher David Ross was the first one to get to the left-hander splayed on the mound in the sixth inning of Pittsburgh's 4-2 win at Milwaukee on Tuesday night and he, too, feared Redman had a broken kneecap.
Amazingly, however, Redman shook off the injury, finished the inning and got some ice and an X-ray while the Pirates' bullpen and bats finished off the Brewers.
The X-rays were negative.
"Evidently, he's OK," McClendon said. "He'll probably be stiff tomorrow."
Hit squarely on right knee
Lee sent a fastball right back up the middle in the sixth, hitting Redman squarely on his right knee, the ball dribbling into foul territory toward the Pirates' dugout on the third-base side. Redman stayed down for a couple of minutes, then got to his feet, threw three perfect pitches to test his plant leg and stayed in the game.
"He was determined not to come out," marveled McClendon. "He said, 'Skip, I'm finishing this inning.' "
Two pitches later, he got Geoff Jenkins on a fly to the wall for the last out.
Milwaukee manager Ned Yost couldn't believe Redman's toughness.
"I didn't think there was any way he could get up and pitch," Yost said. "I thought that was something that could put him out for a long time. The ball hit him square on the knee, I mean it was a bullet. I was totally amazed that he could get up and pitch after that."
Also survived shaky start
Redman (1-0) also survived a shaky start in which he allowed his first two batters to score. But he settled down, allowing just three more hits -- and five overall -- with no walks and five strikeouts in six innings.
Daryle Ward ended Pittsburgh's 56-inning homerless streak when he sent a Gary Glover pitch off the right-field foul pole for a two-run homer that erased the Brewers' 2-1 lead in the sixth.
Ward's shot, just the second home run for the Pirates this season, followed the third of four singles by Rob Mackowiak.
Ross, who doubled twice, also hit his first homer, a solo shot off Derrick Turnbow in the ninth, then Jose Mesa got three straight outs for his third save in as many chances.
Glover struggled early
Glover (0-1) labored through a 25-pitch first inning that began with a four-pitch walk to Matt Lawton, but he stranded the bases full when he got Ward to pop softly to shortstop J.J. Hardy with two outs.
"I'd almost rather give up a solo shot on the first pitch than throw four pitches nowhere near the zone," Glover said.
Junior Spivey's RBI triple in the bottom of the first gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead and he scored on Lyle Overbay's groundout. Ty Wigginton and David Ross hit back-to-back doubles leading off the second to cut Milwaukee's 2-0 lead in half.
After Craig Wilson tracked down Jenkins' fly ball to end the sixth, Salomon Torres replaced Redman to start the seventh, and both Damian Miller and Hardy sent drives to the wall off him. Hardy's ball was going out for a two-run shot that would have restored Milwaukee's lead, but Wilson's leaping grab over the wall kept it a 3-2 game.
"We hit three balls right to the wall and they made nice plays on all three off them," lamented Yost.
And Redman made a nice recovery from the comebacker.
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