William Contreras had three hits and drove in a run, Garrett Mitchell hit a home run, and the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the San Francisco Giants 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Aaron Civale (6-8) gave up two runs in 5 1/3 innings, pitching effectively against the Giants after previously throwing seven shutout innings against them two weeks ago at home. This win improved his record to 4-2 since being traded to the Brewers from the Rays in July.
“They came out a little aggressive on some pitches in the zone, (and I) just came back at them with some aggressive pitches of my own,” Civale said. “Just tried to keep the ball in the zone in spots that felt they couldn’t handle super well, and I did that for the most part.”
The Brewers, who lead the NL Central and had lost four of their last five games before this, are now 4 1/2 games ahead of the Cubs in their division. The Giants fell eight games behind for the third NL wild card spot.
Milwaukee improved to 66-3 when leading after seven innings, the best in the NL.
“I can criticize a couple of things here and there, but I thought the guys competed again,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Another close game. It’s about our 90th this year within one or two runs.”
Four of the Brewers’ first five batters got hits off Giants starter Landon Roupp (0-1). Contreras singled to drive in Jackson Chourio, and Willy Adames drove in Contreras, giving Milwaukee a 2-0 lead.
Matt Chapman hit an RBI double in the bottom of the first for the Giants. Mitchell and Mike Yastrzemski hit solo home runs in the sixth inning.
Mitchell, who was looking for a fastball but ended up hitting an offspeed pitch from Tristan Beck on the first pitch, provided a crucial insurance run. The Brewers are not focusing on the magic number to clinch the NL Central, which decreased to nine with Tuesday’s win, he said.
