You didn't need to look closely or rewind to catch Prince Fielder's surprise.

With the Brewers leading by a run, Fielder stepped into the box against Arizona right-hander Ian Kennedy. There were two outs and a runner, Ryan Braun, at second base. Fielder has found himself in this position many times before and more often than not, finds himself getting a free ride to first base.

So when Kennedy reached back and let the ball fly for a strike, Fielder needed a moment to step out of the box.

"OK," you could see him saying, realizing that Kennedy was going to pitch to him.

Fielder stepped back in and waited. And when Kennedy hung a curveball out over the plate, the Brewers' menacing slugger unleashed, crushing the ball 426 feet into the right field picnic area and giving his team a four-run lead late in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

Fielder says he wasn't surprised by the move.

"He's a potential Cy Young winner, he's their guy," Fielder said. "I wasn't surprised at all."

He might have been one of the few who weren't. Fielder led all major leaguers this season with 32 intentional walks. All signs pointed to him getting another free pass this time around.

Arizona manager Kirk Gibson had visited the mound just before Fielder's at-bat. At that point, it would have made sense to pull the right-hander. Kennedy, a 21-game winner during the regular season, had already thrown 109 pitches and the velocity on his fastball was dropping.

Then, add in the fact that Fielder's 1.046 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) against right-handers was the best in the National League, and you've got a real head-scratcher.

"Obviously, I wanted to go after him. I just hung that curveball," Kennedy said. "I kind of brought it right down into the middle of his swing."

Gibson defended the decision to pitch to Fielder.

"Obviously we had different options," Gibson said. "(We) could have brought (left-hander Joe) Paterson, who has actually handled Fielder well, could have walked him and let Ian face Weeks.

"Ultimately that's what he wanted to do, and it was my decision to let him do it that way. It didn't work out. He threw probably the worst pitch of the game. Fielder, give him credit. He hit a good swing on it and hit it out of the park. Up to that point we kept it in the park."

Gibson and Kennedy faced another questionable situation an inning earlier when Jonathan Lucroy came up with Yuniesky Betancourt on third and two outs. Kennedy could have walked Lucroy (.265, 12 home runs, 59 RBIs during the regular season) and try to get the final out of the inning out of Yovani Gallardo.

The Diamondbacks gambled and Lucroy dropped a blooper into short left field, between two Arizona fielders.

"He really didn't pitch to me," Lucroy said. "The balls he was throwing me were off the plate. I just got lucky and dropped one in there. I was hacking right there because I'd rather try to get some hits and make something happen than have them walk me and pitch to Yovani."

Hairston shines: Manager Ron Roenicke had been tight-lipped about his Game 1 starter at third base, finally announcing that it would be Jerry Hairston, Jr. Saturday morning.

The move was a good one.

Hairston went 1-for-2 with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning that gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead. He was also solid in the field, making two impressive plays that robbed Chris Young and Justin Upton of base hits.

"Jerry had a great game," Roenicke said. "Defensively, (he) made a couple of outstanding plays -- big at-bat with the bases loaded there. If he doesn't hit that ball right at somebody, we score a lot of runs there. But (he hit a) line drive right at center (and) had another good at-bat later."

The Game 2 starter is still unknown, except to Roenicke. It's possible that McGehee could find himself in the lineup Sunday. He's 5-for-5 with a home run against Arizona starter Daniel Hudson.

Baylor's OK: Diamondbacks hitting coach Don Baylor was back at work Saturday afternoon, just 24 hours after fainting in the Arizona clubhouse during the team's pre-NLDS workout.

The 61-year-old was taken to a local hospital, evaluated and released. Baylor said that it is believed that medication he was taking for a back issue was the cause for his fainting spell.