Freddy Peralta pitched six strong innings, and William Contreras hit a tiebreaking homer to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 2-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday night, securing their fourth straight victory.
Gary Sánchez contributed with an early RBI double, helping Milwaukee maintain its 10-game lead in the NL Central, the largest lead among division leaders.
Cleveland’s lead in the AL Central was cut to two games ahead of the rising Minnesota Twins, who won 5-2 against Texas.
Josh Naylor hit his 27th home run for the Guardians, who were limited to four runs in their two losses in Milwaukee to start their three-game interleague series.
Peralta (8-7) gave up four hits and two walks while striking out three. The right-hander had only one win in his previous seven starts and had allowed four or more runs in three of his last four games.
“I feel like Freddy’s been throwing the ball like that, but he hasn’t had the best of luck,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “I thought he was really, really good tonight.”
Naylor’s homer tied the game 1-1 with two outs in the fourth inning. In the bottom of that inning, Contreras hit a 1-2 changeup from Tanner Bibee over the left-field fence for his 17th home run of the season and his sixth in August.
“I just feel really good at the plate right now,” Contreras said. “I’m feeling really comfortable and I’m not trying to do too much, just trying to do what I can to help the team.”
Bibee (10-5) allowed only one earned run, holding the Brewers to three hits and a walk while striking out seven over five innings.
“They got his pitch count up and made him work,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “A lot of foul balls. The two mistakes he made tonight were the double and the homer. I thought he was really good, but they got his pitch count up early.”
