MILWAUKEE - Lyle Overbay's bunt single was way more important than his solo 404-foot homer.

It forced Pittsburgh's Mike Gonzalez to pitch to slugger Carlos Lee, whose two-run double sparked a four-run eighth inning rally Wednesday that carried Milwaukee past the Pirates 6-2.

"That was a huge bunt," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "I mean, Overbay tied it up with a home run and then came back and that was a perfect bunt to set the whole thing up."

With the score tied thanks to solo shots by Overbay and Geoff Jenkins that erased a 2-0 deficit, Brady Clark lined an infield single off right-handed reliever Rick White's glove to start the eighth inning and beat White's throw to second base on a comebacker by Junior Spivey.

Gonzalez came in and Overbay got the bunt sign.

But instead of a sacrifice, the ball dribbled down the left-field line for a single to load the bases with no outs before Lee sent a 2-2 fastball down the left-field line for a two-run double.

"I told Overbay, 'If you bunt the ball, go for a base hit because if first base is open, they're going to walk me,'" Lee recounted.

"With Jenkins behind me, it's lefty-lefty, there's no way they're going to let me hit. So, when he was safe at first, I was like, 'Now, they've got to pitch to me,'" Lee said. "I was very excited about it. I like to hit with people on base."

One out later, Damian Miller's two-run single off Gonzalez made it 6-2.

The Pirates were lamenting the missed opportunity one batter before Overbay's perfect bunt, when second base umpire Mike DiMuro called Clark safe on White's throw to second.

"When I let go of the ball, I thought for sure we had him," said White (0-1). "That gives us one out with a guy on first base and we still got a double play set up."

Jorge De La Rosa (2-0) pitched a scoreless inning for the win, and Mike Adams pitched the ninth.

Milwaukee, 6-12 against Pittsburgh last year, fell behind 2-0 in the third when Chris Capuano started the inning by walking Josh Fogg on five pitches. Fogg came around to score on Jason Bay's single, and Rob Mackowiak beat the relay on a potential inning-ending double play groundball, allowing Jack Wilson to score Pittsburgh's second run.

Capuano, who allowed two runs and seven hits in five innings, walked Fogg again on five pitches in the fourth but escaped the inning still trailing 2-0, and Jenkins' homer, his first, cut the Pirates' lead in half in the bottom of the inning.