PITTSBURGH -- Vance Worley is used to his body breaking down at this point in the season. An unexpected break allowed the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander to regroup. He responded with his sharpest outing in two months to push the fading Milwaukee Brewers closer to an extended vacation of their own. Bumped from the starting rotation in favour of a seemingly healed Charlie Morton last week, Worley returned with eight sparkling innings in Sundays 1-0 win over the Brewers as the surging Pirates closed in on a second consecutive playoff berth. Russell Martin singled home Andrew McCutchen in the seventh inning and the Pirates trapped speedy Carlos Gomez in a rundown in the ninth for the win. Pittsburgh moved 4 1-2 games in front of Milwaukee for an NL wild-card spot with a week to go. Worley (8-4) scattered four hits and the Pirates used some smart fielding in the ninth to help All-Star setup man Tony Watson pick up his first save of the year. "I got the start off, got some time to get my feet back under me," Worley said. "This is the deepest Ive gone into the season the last couple years with injury, so this was good for me." Certainly looked like it. The Pirates sent Worley to the bullpen last week when Morton returned from a sports hernia. Morton pitched five shutout innings in a victory over the Red Sox only to have the hernia flare up late in his outing. Hes gone indefinitely and Worley is back in and probably not going anywhere after striking out five and not issuing a walk while throwing 63 of his 82 pitches for strikes. "Vance wasnt nitpicking," said Martin, his catcher. The Brewers -- who led the Pirates by 9 1-2 games in May -- dropped two of three in the series, scoring just three runs in 27 innings. They had a chance to send it to extra innings in the ninth only to run themselves into trouble. Gomez led off with a single against Watson, pressed into the closers role with Mark Melancon unavailable after working three straight games. Pinch-hitter Rickie Weeks beat out a chopper for an infield hit that squired out of first baseman Gaby Sanchezs glove. Gomez saw the ball pop out and started heading to third before suddenly pulling up. That led to a rundown that squelched the rally. "If I continued to run, it would have been really easy to make it to third because everybody broke for that ball and nobody was on third," Gomez said. "So I dont know why I stopped. Its just a mistake that you learn from." The Brewers are running out of time. Pittsburghs magic number dropped to three with seven games remaining, scoring the games only run on Martins RBI single off Wily Peralta (16-11). It was Martins second go-ahead hit in three days. He had a three-run homer in the eighth on Friday night to propel the Pirates to a 4-2 victory. This time he skipped the dramatics and opted for simple contact. McCutchen led off the seventh with an infield single, moved to third on a passed ball and a wild pitch and trotted home when Martin singled up the middle to extend his hitting streak to 12 games. "Whenever another team gives you an opportunity, you have to take advantage of it," Martin said. The Pirates improved to 51-30 at home, their best season at PNC Park since it opened in 2001 and their highest win total since going 53-28 at Three Rivers Stadium in 1992. They did it on a day they set a franchise record for single season attendance, topping 2.4 million on the year. "Its a blue-collar team," manager Clint Hurdle said. "Its a Pittsburgh team." One that sprinting toward the playoffs yet again after ending a record streak of 20 consecutive losing seasons in 2013. Peralta was every bit Worleys equal. Martins single was the first Pittsburgh hit to reach the outfield grass. Still, it wasnt quite enough as the Brewers fell to 2-13 in their last 15 road games. "It sure doesnt look good," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "Theyre a good team, theyre playing well. You dont expect them to not play well here the last (seven) games. And weve got to basically win it out. Its not easy to do." UP NEXT Brewers: Milwaukee is off Monday and opens a three-game series at Cincinnati on Tuesday. Mike Fiers (6-3, 1.78 ERA) will make his ninth start of the season. Fiers allowed one run in seven innings against St. Louis last week. Pirates: Pittsburgh begins its season-ending seven-game road trip in Atlanta on Monday. Francisco Liriano (6-10, 3.45 ERA) has allowed three earned runs in his last five starts (33 innings). Liriano is 5-4 with a 2.39 ERA since returning from the disabled list in July. HOME SWEET HOME The Pirates recorded their 23rd sellout in Sundays finale to break club record for attendance in a single season, drawing 2,442,564. The team is 101-61 over the last two years at home. "Youve got 100 wins, it really is home sweet home," Hurdle said. "It has now become an event, not just something, Hey, we can do this. Youre marking your calendars, youre picking dates, youre swapping tickets, youre buying tickets. Youre moving things out of the way to make sure you get to this game." Demarcus Robinson Super Bowl Jersey . The Brazilian heads into Saturday afternoons race coming off a close runner-up finish to Ryan Hunter-Reay in the Indianapolis 500. Tyrann Mathieu Super Bowl Jersey .com) - The fading Ottawa Senators have a chance to make up some ground in the playoff race on Tuesday night as they play host to the New York Rangers. http://www.officialkcchiefspro.com/Sammy-w...-chiefs-jersey/ . -- A.J. Burnett was happy to escape from New York. Dorian ODaniel Super Bowl Jersey .That is precisely what they got Sunday.The Ravens trailed at halftime and never built a comfortable lead against lowly Jacksonville, yet did just enough to squeeze out a 20-12 win to stay in the thick of the AFC playoff race. Mitchell Schwartz Super Bowl Jersey .com) - Ryan Miller made 28 saves to record his fifth shutout of the season and second in as many nights as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Friday. TORONTO -- R.A. Dickey won his third consecutive decision on Tuesday but he is still frustrated with his inability to get through the seventh inning. "I get a good 18 hours to beat myself up and then its time to turn the page and enjoy that we won the game," Dickey said after he failed to retire any of his four batters in a three-run seventh inning by the Cleveland Indians. "I do have an expectation of myself thats better than what Im producing." With Juan Francisco and Adam Lind each driving in two runs and left fielder Melky Cabrera throwing out a runner at the plate to end the eighth inning, the Blue Jays defeated the Indians 5-4. Dickey (4-3) allowed five hits, two walks, one hit batsman and four runs-- two earned-- in six-plus innings. "The good news is I feel like Im pounding the zone and pitching to contact and I had a great knuckleball," Dickey said. "But I am not making it easy on myself or my team in those later innings. "Quite frankly, I feel a little bit embarrassed that I havent been able to get through seventh innings with some of the stuff that Ive hadaI had some really good change-ups tonight and had a swing and miss knuckleball and was pounding the zone and on a different night I might have been able to go seven or eight." He has pitched seven innings once this season, a loss to the Houston Astros on April 10. Cleveland right-hander Justin Masterson (2-2) allowed six hits-- including Franciscos homer that snapped a 1-1 tie in the fifth-- three walks and five runs in 5 1/3 innings. "First time through the order he went through them really well," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "He got a couple of balls up that they stayed on pretty well. We just couldnt get one big hit." The victory in the opener of the three-game series against the Indians (18-21) gave the Blue Jays (20-20) their second win in a row after dropping three straight to the Los Angeles Angels. The Indians appeared to be set to take Masterson off the hook for the loss and take the win away from Dickey with two out in the top of the eighth inning. But Cabrera cut down the potential tying run with his throw home. Clevelands Carlos Santana, who led off the inning with a single against left-hander Brett Cecil and took second on a passed ball, was out at the plate after Yan Gomes lined a single to left. "That was just heroic, thats what that was," Dickey said. "It saved the game." "It was possibly the game right there," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.dddddddddddd. "They come back and tie it you never know whats going to happen." Casey Janssen pitched the ninth for his first save of the season in his second appearance after coming off the disabled list where he was placed Mar. 29 with a back problem. "Hes reliable," Gibbons said. "Its good to have him back." Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in the third on a single to right by Nick Swisher. Jose Bautista made a tumbling attempt at a catch on the sinking drive that scored Mike Aviles, who singled with two out and took second on a walk to Michael Bourn. The Blue Jays tied the game in the fourth on a triple to left-centre by Jose Reyes and a sacrifice fly to the warning track in centre by Cabrera. Francisco hit a 1-0 sinker to right centre for his sixth homer of the season with one out in the fifth to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead. Francisco started at third base to get his left-handed bat into the lineup against Masterson and Brett Lawrie started at second base. The Blue Jays added three runs in the sixth, two on a slicing double by Lind to left centre that scored Cabrera, who led off with a walk, and Bautista, who had an infield single. Francisco doubled down the right-field line to score Lind. Masterson was pulled for left-hander Josh Outman after Lawrie walked. The Indians answered with three runs in the seventh after Dickey faced four batters without an out. "It seemed like the wheels were falling off but overall in the game he was tremendous," Toronto catcher Josh Thole said. Asdrubal Cabrera singled, David Murphy reached first on Lawries error on his sharp groundball, Gomes walked and Lonnie Chisenhall was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Left-hander Aaron Loup allowed a one-out single by Bourn and a sacrifice fly by Swisher to cut the lead to one. NOTES: The Blue Jays recalled outfielder Kevin Pillar from triple-A Buffalo where he was batting .305 with one home run and 19 RBI. Pillar started in centre field Tuesday while Colby Rasmus rested his mild right hamstring strain, but it seems unlikely he will need to go on the disabled list. a Infielder Jonathan Diaz, who played on Monday to give regular shortstop Reyes a rest, was returned on option to Buffalo. a Blue Jays right-hander Dustin McGowan (2-1, 4.63 earned-run average) will start Wednesday against right-hander Corey Kluber (3-3, 3.48 ERA). ' ' '