Jackson Chourio hit a two-run homer, Frankie Montas pitched six scoreless innings, and the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the San Francisco Giants 3-0 on Thursday night, moving closer to winning the NL Central title.
The Brewers, who lead Chicago by nine games in their division, won two of three games against the Giants and reduced their magic number to seven.
The game remained tied until the seventh inning when Milwaukee’s Willy Adames walked and scored on three wild pitches from Camilo Doval (5-2). Chourio then extended the lead with a two-run home run off Spencer Bivens in the eighth, driving in Brice Turang, who had reached on an infield single.
“It’s rare to hit a home run to the opposite field at this park,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “It still takes a great hit to clear the fence.”
The 20-year-old Chourio became the youngest player in MLB history to have both 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a season.
“Chourio is already a very good player, but I believe he will become one of the greatest,” Montas said. “He’s exceptional.”
Chourio swapped a signed bat with the fan who caught his historic home run ball.
In the ninth inning, the Giants had a chance to tie the game with one out after Mark Canha’s single and Jerar Encarnacion’s double to left off Brewers closer Devin Williams. However, Williams struck out Grant McCray and got pinch hitter Patrick Bailey to ground out for his 11th save.
Despite having runners in scoring position six times, the Giants could not score.
There were only four hits in the game—two for each team—through six innings, with Montas (7-10) striking out eight and San Francisco starter Hayden Birdsong striking out four in five innings.
“Montas isn’t intimidated by big moments, which is exciting,” Murphy said. “We have high expectations, but there’s still a long way to go.”
No runner advanced past second base until Adames scored.
