PITTSBURGH -- As Gaby Sanchez "trucked" around third some 6 1/2 hours after the game began, one thought went through his head. "This is enough," the 216-pound first baseman said after the game. "Im tired. Its been a long day." Then Sanchez laughed. The Pittsburgh Pirates have been doing an awful lot of that lately. Pinch-hitter Russell Martin singled home Sanchez for the winning run in the 14th inning and the Pirates earned their ninth straight victory, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 Sunday. The Pirates extended their longest winning streak since 2004, when they took 10 in a row. Pittsburgh reached the midpoint of its season with the best record in the majors at 51-30. "Its fun right now," said Martin, who played a key role in an extra-inning victory he did not start for the second straight Sunday. "Obviously, winning is fun, but just being on a team with a bunch of guys who play with their hearts out there and enjoy the game, its definitely been a pleasure." Teammates were having fun with Sanchez, a slugger not known for his speed. Sanchez led off the 14th with an infield single. With one out, he stole second for his first steal in more than a year. After a walk, Martin hit a soft liner to centre off Francisco Rodriguez (1-1). Sanchez chugged around third and slid home ahead of the throw by Carlos Gomez. "I guess he felt fresh today for some reason," Martin said with a wry smile. "Were just grinding; hes out there grinding and made it happen and I think everybody is enjoying it." Pirates manager Clint Hurdle gave the sign for Sanchez to make an attempt for his first stolen base as a Pirate and first overall since May 6, 2012. Sanchez has 10 steals and 30 infield hits in 513 career games according to STATS. "Once it gets late like that, youve got to take some chances," Hurdle said. "Gabys always heads-up." Sanchez validated the efforts of Pittsburghs stingy bullpen, one that refers to itself as "The Shark Tank." Vin Mazzaro pitched five perfect innings. He was among six Pirates relievers who combined for 11 scoreless innings after Charlie Morton was pulled following a rain delay of 2 hours, 20 minutes. Justin Wilson, Bryan Morris, Jason Grilli and Mark Melancon each pitched a scoreless inning following Mazzaro -- allowing a total of two hits and no walks. Tony Watson (2-1) struck out four in three hitless innings. "A truly incredible job from everybody out there," Hurdle said. "It feels like they all throw 110 mph, and theyve all got good stuff," Brewers outfielder Logan Schafer said. "They know what theyre doing. They locate their pitches for the most part and they get ahead early in the count. Those guys are very good." Andrew McCutchen hit a tying single in the Pittsburgh eighth. Bidding for the franchises first winning season or playoff berth in 21 years, surprising Pittsburgh enters July with the most wins in the majors. The crowd of 35,351 was about three 3,000 shy of capacity, snapping the PNC Park-record sellout streak of five games. The vast majority of those on hand waited out a downpour not long after Milwaukee scored an unearned run in the second inning off of Morton, making his fourth start since returning from 2012 elbow surgery. The Pirates trailed for roughly the next four hours -- after the delay Tyler Thornburg and Mazzaro traded shutout innings -- until tying it in the eighth against Jim Henderson. Starling Marte walked with one out, advanced on a groundout and came home on McCutchens single. Martin Maldonado had three hits for Milwaukee, which got its only run when Yuniesky Betancourt came home on Schafers bunt in the second. "Its tough right now," Schafer said. "Were not getting a whole lot of breaks. But things will turn. They always do in this game." NOTES: LF Schafer robbed Sanchez of a home run by reaching over the left-centre field wall for a catch in the seventh. ... After a team off-day Monday, Pittsburgh opens a three-game series against visiting Philadelphia. LHP Jeff Locke, who has a personal seven-winning streak, was in line to start that game but Hurdle said he was been scratched because Locke was forced to throw in the bullpen during the 14th inning Sunday. Locke would have entered the game had it been extended any longer. Hurdle said no determination had been made on who would start Tuesday. ... After the Brewers begin a four-game series in Washington on Monday, the lone NL team they will have yet to face will be the New York Mets. sWell Traveler Bottle Sale . Terms of the deal were not immediately available. The 26-year-old finished last season with Clevelands Triple-A affiliate in Columbus after signing with the Indians in August. Swell Water Bottle Cheap .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. http://www.swellwaterbottlesale.com/ . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. Swell Bottles Sale .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. Swell Bottle Wood Cheap . -- Hunter Smith scored the winner with just 12 seconds remaining in the third period as the Oshawa Generals edged the host Sarnia Sting 5-4 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. ARCALIS, Andorra -- Through hail, heat and constant pressure from some of his main rivals, Chris Froome rode strong during the toughest stage in the Pyrenees of the Tour de France on Sunday.The British riders furious pedaling in an uphill finish padded his lead over several opponents and put him in control with the yellow jersey entering the races first rest day.That was a tough stage and the weather made it even tougher, Froome said. One minute we were pouring water over our heads and ice packs down our backs and the next minute there was ice falling from the sky.We were just trying to ride face down so the hail didnt hit our faces, added Froome, who took the yellow jersey with a downhill attack and stage win a day earlier. It was pretty difficult out there.Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin won the ninth leg with a solo breakaway on the beyond-category finishing climb.Froome crossed 11th, 6:35 behind Dumoulin, right behind fellow British rider Adam Yates and immediately ahead of top rival Nairo Quintana of Colombia.In the back of my mind I was waiting for (Quintanas) attack all the way up the last climb, Froome said. I thought he was saving it for one big one. But that never came. I would like to think he was on his limit. It was a tough day out there. He just stuck to my wheel like glue.He seems to be going well but right now hes not showing any more than anyone else, Froome added.In the overall classification, Froome holds a 16-second lead over Yates, with Dan Martin of Ireland third, 19 seconds behind, and Quintana fourth, 23 seconds back.Its a very open race at this point but Im very happy to have the lead going into the first rest day, Froome said.Two-time champion Alberto Contador pulled out with a fever midway through the stage.Among those who couldnt keep up with Froome on the final climb were French favorite Romain Bardet, top American hope Tejay van Garderen and Fabio Aru of Italy.Bardet is sixth overall, 44 seconds behind, Van Garderen is 11th with a gap of 1:01 and Aru is 13th at 1:23.Still, Froome hasnt fully shaken Yates, Martin and Quintana.I feel that this is going to be the biggest battle of my career, said Froome, who won the Tour in 2013 and 2015. By no means did I expect this to be easy and that I would ride away from everyone. Thhe level is higher.ddddddddddddPart of an early breakaway, Dumoulin attacked with 12 kilometers remaining in the 184.5-kilometer (115-mile) leg from Vielha dAran, Spain, to Arcalis in the principality of Andorra.A few days ago if you said I would win maybe the hardest day in the whole Tour de France this year, I would say you were crazy, said Dumoulin, who was sick last week. But sometimes it all comes together and the legs were feeling good today.Im a time trialist so if I have a gap its difficult to close it on me, Dumoulin added.The stage featured five demanding climbs, including an uphill, beyond-category finish in Arcalis.We went through all states, Bardet said. In the valley, the heat was suffocating. Then in the finale it was apocalyptic.On Team Giant-Alpecin, Dumoulin won the opening time trial in this years Giro dItalia and wore the overall leaders pink jersey for six stages before withdrawing midway through the race with saddle sores.He also won two stages in last years Spanish Vuelta.Approaching the finish line Sunday, Dumoulin turned around to make eye contact with his team director in a car behind him and then, on the verge of tears, stuck his tongue out and raised his arms in celebration.Rui Costa, the former world champion from Portugal, crossed second and Rafal Majka of Poland was third, each 38 seconds behind.Contador crashed in each of the opening stages and had already dropped significant time to the other overall favorites. He was in 20th position at the end of Saturdays eighth stage, 3 minutes, 12 seconds behind Froome.It was quite a surprise to hear on the radio that he was in the car, Froome said. Its a shame. Hes a great rider and he would have only added to what is already quite an exciting race.For the second consecutive day, there was an incident involving a spectator. George Bennett of New Zealand knocked down a fan blocking his way while coming around a tight turn.Monday is the races first rest day. Then there is one more stage in the Pyrenees on Tuesday, a 197-kilometer (122-mile) leg from Escaldes-Engordany, Andorra, to Revel, France.---Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampf ' ' '