Aaron Civale threw seven scoreless innings, William Contreras stole home and the Milwaukee Brewers earned a series win over the visiting San Francisco Giants with a 6-0 triumph Thursday afternoon.
Garrett Mitchell homered and Jackson Chourio drove in a pair of runs for the Brewers, who were playing the Giants in the first of two series over a 15-day stretch. The playoff hopefuls will meet Sept. 10-12 in a rematch at San Francisco.
Civale (5-8) allowed only four baserunners over his seven innings — two via singles and two on walks. He struck out seven. Aaron Ashby closed out the win with two perfect innings.
Half the traffic against Civale came in the first when Tyler Fitzgerald walked with one out and Michael Conforto singled with two down to put runners at first and third. Civale then struck out Matt Chapman in the Giants’ only at-bat of the game with a runner in scoring position.
Mitchell’s homer, his third of the season, opened the Brewers’ scoring in the second. Milwaukee added a second run in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Blake Perkins.
Contreras’ daring baserunning success came in the third as teammate Willy Adames got caught in a rundown between first and second on a steal attempt. The catcher-turned-DH, who began the play on third base, drew a throw to third before sprinting toward the plate, making it easily when Chapman dropped the ball.
The Brewers, who had lost the series opener Tuesday before drawing even Wednesday night, blew the game open in a three-run fourth after Giants starter Hayden Birdsong (3-4) was pulled following consecutive two-out walks. Chourio greeted reliever Sean Hjelle with a two-run double, after which Contreras made it 6-0 with an RBI single.
Birdsong was charged with five runs on four hits in his 3 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out six.
Contreras and Mitchell finished with two hits apiece for the Brewers, the runaway first-place team in the National League Central.
Fitzgerald had the Giants’ only other hit, an infield single with two outs in the third.
-Field Level Media
