Next game: Saturday, September 6 vs. San Diego
Brewers Gameday with the Jockey Pregame Show at 5:30 p.m., followed by Brewers Extra Innings after the game on 620WTMJ

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• Jay Sorgi's Analysis: Pitching A Postseason Proposal
• The Llama Laments: New Ideas for Miller Park

Postgame Audio
• CC Sabathia
• J.J. Hardy

It took 11 innings and 3 hours and 38 minutes but the Brewers were able to snap their four-game losing streak and win their first game in the month of September.

"It was a grind, man," said Brewers manager Ned Yost. "It shows you that there's no easy games in September for anybody."

J.J. Hardy singled home Craig Counsell in the bottom of the 11th as the Brewers beat the Padres 3-2 Friday night at Miller Park.

Going into the final at-bat of the game, Hardy was 0-5 with four runners left on base. Also, in the bottom of the ninth he was barely thrown out by Padres shortstop Luis Rodriguez who bobbled the ground ball but was able to recover and throw out Hardy. If Hardy was safe, Tony Gwynn would have scored to win the game.

"I felt like I definitely had some chances tonight but I wasn't disappointed in my at-bats," Hardy said. "I felt like I battled. I felt like I was seeing the ball good, taking pitches and I felt like I hit the ball hard. It was just right at them and you can't do anything like that.

The lead runner reached for the Brewers in the eighth, ninth and tenth innings but were unable to score in any of those frames. In the tenth, Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder both walked to start the inning but Corey Hart hit into a double play to slow down that threat.

Other than Eric Gagné who had a tough eighth inning, the Brewers bullpen was very solid as Salomon Torres, David Riske and Brian Shouse combined to throw three scoreless innings. In the top of the 11th inning, Riske allowed two runners to reach after recording the first out of the frame.

Shouse was brought in to face the left-handed hitting Rodriguez and the Brewers decided to play their middle infielders back to try for the double play. First pitch to Rodriguez, that's exactly what the Brewers got as he hit it right to Shouse who threw to Hardy who finished the twin killing by throwing to Prince Fielder at first base.

"You're kind of playing the odds right there because you're not conceding the run but you're trying to get out of it with one pitch and we did," Yost said.

CC Sabathia pitched another fantastic game for the Brewers as he gave up only one run. He left after the seventh inning with a 2-1 lead.

"I felt like that was enough," Yost said. "I didn't want to take him past 120 pitches today. I just can't keep doing that so I made a decision that I would be go with Gagné."

Gagné was brought to bridge the gap to the Torres. Instead, Gagné gave up his 11th home run of the season in the eighth inning to Brian Giles who led off the inning. That homer tied the game at 2 as the boos rained down at Miller Park. Gagné was charged with his seventh blown save of the season.

Sabathia remained undefeated with the Brewers (9-0) as he picked up a no-decision. He pitched seven innings and gave up five hits while striking out nine and walking two. It wasn't a near no-hitter but he was still very good on the hill.

"We won the game," Sabathia said. "That's the most important thing. That's all we're trying to do now in September is get wins and try to get into the playoffs."

He did it with the bat, too. Sabathia put the Brewers ahead 2-1 in the fourth inning with a run-scoring single that just snuck under the glove of Padres second baseman Edgar Gonzalez and went into the outfield grass to score Bill Hall.

The Brewers took the lead for the first time in the second inning when Jason Kendall got a single to fall into right field to plate Mike Cameron who got a great jump off second base. San Diego tied the game in the top of the fourth when Rodriguez beat Hall's throw at home plate. Hall's throw was a little on the first base side of home plate and Kendall was unable to tag out Rodriguez.

Josh Geer made his second major league start on Friday and threw five innings and gave up two runs. The Padres' youngster walked two, struck three and gave up seven hits.

Sabathia, Braun and Hart each had two hits for the Brewers who stranded 13 base runners. Hart's hitting streak now stands at 11 games.

Game three of the series between the Brewers and Padres is Saturday night with Ben Sheets (12-7, 2.97) on the mound for Milwaukee against Jake Peavy (9-9, 2.69) for San Diego. Sheets left his last start after five innings with a left groin injury. He has recovered from that injury and set to pitch on Saturday.

Notes: Friday's win was the Brewers' 3,000th in franchise history. Giles went 4-6 and now has at least four hits in six games this season to lead the National League.