Brewers 4, Giants 3: Gio Gonzalez makes solid debut and the streaking Brewers hold on
A good first step.
That's what left-hander Gio Gonzalez took Saturday night at Miller Park in his first start for the Milwaukee Brewers. Gonzalez pitched 5 2/3 solid innings, allowing only three hits and one run (unearned) with a walk and seven strikeouts.
The game got tense after Gonzalez's departure but the Brewers hung on for a 4-3 victory over San Francisco, securing their sixth consecutive series triumph. They will go for a three-game sweep Sunday but will have to get through Giants ace Madison Bumgarner to do it.
It was the 13th win in 18 games for the Brewers, who built their lead to 2 1/2 games as the wild-card leader in the National League. The victory also moved them 19 games over .500 (81-62) for the first time this season
.BOX SCORE: Brewers 4, Giants
RELATED: Gio Gonzalez could be Brewers' wild card in securing wild-card berth
RELATED: Brewers hope to get Jimmy Nelson on the mound this fall
HAUDRICOURT: Brewers have most favorable path to NL wild-card berth
MLB: Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, statistics
STANDINGS: MLB standings | Wild-card picture
The Brewers traded for Gonzalez nine days earlier though he had been struggling mightily with the Washington Nationals. He had gone 1-5 with a 6.55 ERA since the all-star break, including 1-4, 7.47 in six starts in August.
But Gonzalez looked like a different pitcher in his Brewers' debut, keeping the Giants off the board until the sixth inning. He exited to a nice ovation from the crowd of 40,686.
The Brewers struck quickly with a run in the first inning off Giants starter Chris Stratton, the only righty they’ve faced in the last five games. With down, Travis Shaw went down and got a low 1-0 fastball, driving it out to center for his 28th home run.
Stratton walked the first two batters in the Brewers fourth, Jesús Aguilar and Curtis Granderson, and paid for doing so. Mike Moustakas sliced an opposite-field double inside the left-field line to score Aguilar, and after Manny Piña grounded out, Orlando Arcia drove a sacrifice fly to deep center to make it a 3-0 game.
The Giants didn’t advance a runner past first base until the fifth, when Hunter Pence led off with a double to right-center. Gonzalez responded to that threat in style, retiring the next three hitters, two on strikeouts, to keep the visitors off the board.
With one down in the Brewers fifth, Christian Yelich boosted the lead to 4-0 with a home run to center field, his 28th of the season. With that blast, Yelich increased his streak to 24 consecutive games in which he reached base safely, the longest in the NL.
San Francisco finally broke through for a run against Gonzalez in the sixth but it took a replay challenge to do it. With two down and Chase d’Arnaud on second, Austin Slater singled to left and d’Arnaud was called out at the plate on Yelich’s throw to Piña. The Giants’ challenged the call, however, and it was overturned, making it a 4-1 game.
That marked the end for Gonzalez, who yielded to Corey Knebel. After ending that inning on a fly ball by Evan Longoria, Knebel mowed through the Giants in the seventh, striking out all three batters.
The Giants made it a one-run game in the eighth when pinch-hitter Ryder Jones ripped a two-run homer off Joakim Soria with one down. Jeremy Jeffress secured the final out of that inning and took care of the ninth for his 10th save.
FIVE TAKEWAYS
THE MORE, THE MERRIER: When right-handers Freddy Peralta and Taylor Williams are added to the roster Sunday as their mandatory 10-day period ends after being optioned to Class AAA Colorado Springs, it will give the Brewers 36 active players. Only four players on the 40-man roster will be absent – right-handers Adrian Houser, Aaron Wilkerson, Marcos Diplan and infielder Mauricio Dubon, out for the season with a torn ACL. Houser and Wilkerson have had several stints with the Brewers this season but there are no plans for them to pitch again. When Peralta and Williams are activated, there will be 14 pitchers in the bullpen, twice the normal number. “That will be enough,” Counsell said.
THREE IN TRAINER’S ROOM: The Brewers have three players on the 60-day DL and who therefore they do not count against the 40-man roster – catcher Stephen Vogt (shoulder surgery), right-hander Jimmy Nelson (shoulder surgery) and left-hander Brent Suter (Tommy John surgery). Suter will return to Cincinnati while the Brewers are in Chicago for his next follow-up appointment, with hopes of having the metal, hinged brace on his arm removed.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: First baseman Jesús Aguilar has 61 RBI in two-strike counts, a franchise record and fifth-most in one season since 1988, when such data became available. Cleveland’s Manny Ramirez had the most with 68 in 1999.
ROUGH TIME WITH RISP: Catcher Manny Piña entered the game batting .403 (25 for 62) over his previous 22 games, raising his average from .215 to .257. He continues to struggle with runners in scoring position, however. By going 0 for 1, he is hitting .136 (9 for 66) with RISP for the season.
A NICE, ROUND NUMBER: The Brewers’ 4-2 victory over the Giants on Friday night was the 300th of Counsell’s managerial career (he is 300-303). He became the sixth Brewers manager to reach that number, behind Phil Garner (563), Ned Yost (457), Tom Trebelhorn (422), George Bamberger (377) and Ron Roenicke (342).
RECORD
This year: 81-62
Last year: 75-68
ATTENDANCE
Saturday: 40,686
This year: 2,478,375(34,907 avg.)
Last year: 2,216,762 (31,222 avg.)
COMING UP
Sunday: Giants at Brewers, 1:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Zach Davies (2-5, 4.88) vs. San Francisco LHP Madison Bumgarner (5-5, 3.07). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.