Aaron Civale and Aaron Ashby combined for a two-hit shutout, and William Contreras stole home to help the Milwaukee Brewers defeat the San Francisco Giants 6-0 on Thursday.
The Brewers, who lead the NL Central with a 77-56 record, won two of three games against the Giants. They are 9 1/2 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs, holding the largest division lead in the majors.
“This team, as soon as you think, ‘Ahh, I don’t know about this club. They don’t have this guy. Who’s this guy? They don’t have enough of this. They don’t have enough of that,’ they’ve got enough of something,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “Because they keep posting and keep competing.”
The Giants, with a 67-68 record, finished a six-game trip with a 2-4 record and are now below .500.
“It looked like an awful game for us, all the way around, whether it was the pitching, defense, offense,” said Giants manager Bob Melvin. “Their guy pitched good. He had a good cutter. He had a good sinker, threw just enough off-speed to keep us off balance.”
Garrett Mitchell homered for the Brewers, and Jackson Chourio drove in two runs. Contreras went 2 for 3, drove in a run, and also stole home.
Civale (5-8) pitched seven innings, his longest outing of the season. He struck out seven, allowing only two hits and two walks, marking his third quality start in his last four games.
The 29-year-old right-hander has a 1.45 ERA in five starts at American Family Field since the Brewers acquired him in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays on July 3.
“Just worked on getting the delivery in a good spot,” Civale said. “It’s on me to go out there and compete. That’s the emphasis with each pitch, is just to throw a competitive pitch. Whatever happens, know that the work behind it is valid, and just having confidence in that.”
