Pittsburgh ? Randall Simon’s opposite-field groundball double drove in two runs to break a sixth-inning tie, and the Pittsburgh Pirates won their eighth in a row, beating the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-3, Saturday night.

Jason Bay, coming off an eight-RBI performance in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, added an RBI single to help the Pirates win their ninth in 11 games since they dropped 19 of 22.

The winning streak is their longest since an eight-game run Sept. 1-8, 2000, during Gene Lamont’s final month as manager.

Bay has 10 RBIs in the first three games of the four-game series that wraps up today.

Kris Benson (6-7), likely down to his last few starts with Pittsburgh, pitched seven innings to win for only the second time in seven starts. Benson’s contract is up after this season and, with the Pirates not looking to re-sign him, likely will be traded this month.

Benson constantly was in trouble while allowing eight hits, including multiple hits in three innings, but the Brewers were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position against him.

Lyle Overbay drove in two runs, giving him a team-high 61 RBIs, but Milwaukee lost its third in a row since winning five straight. The Brewers have dropped 21/2 games in the NL Central standings in two days since closing to within 31/2 games of St. Louis on Thursday.

Jose Mesa finished up in the ninth inning for his 19th save in 20 chances after John Grabow yielded Ben Grieve’s run-scoring single in the eighth.

Milwaukee took a 2-1 lead into the Pirates’ sixth, but Wes Obermueller (3-4) couldn’t retire any of the four batters he faced in the inning. Jack Wilson doubled and scored on Rob Mackowiak’s single before Obermueller hit Craig Wilson with a pitch and Bay walked, loading the bases.

After Dave Burba replaced Obermueller, Simon — who hit only .164 in June — bounced a single over the infield and down the left-field line to make it 4-2. Burba then stranded runners on second and third by getting the next three hitters.