The Milwaukee Brewers (19-15) ended up with a happy flight on getaway day, stopping their six-game losing streak and avoiding the sweep in a 7-3 victory over the Giants (15-18) at Oracle Park on Sunday.
The Giants had their opportunities but didn’t cash in, leaving 10 runners on base and going 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position. The Brewers meanwhile did some damage with two outs and nobody on in the fifth inning, when Willy Adames went yard to give the Brewers a 5-2 lead that they would hold until the ninth.
That was the last inning for starter Ross Stripling, who again struggled. Stripling gave up seven hits and five runs in five innings of work.
Stripling’s first year as a Giant hasn’t gotten off to a great start, and his start on Sunday didn’t either, when the Brewers jumped on him early via a William Contreras two-run shot in the second inning. That was one of 30 pitches Stripling threw in the second frame, where he also allowed a walk and an infield hit. Rowdy Telez and Brice Turang worked him for nine and eight pitch at-bats respectively.
Back-to-back RBI singles from LaMonte Wade Jr. and Brett Wisely tied things in the bottom half, but Stripling gave up another run in the third on an Adames sacrifice fly.
Aside from Adames’ two-run shot in the fifth, the game was defined by the Giants’ inability to knock runs in.
Joc Pederson grounded into a double play with a runner on second in the first inning and struck out to end the inning with two runners on in the fifth. With runners on second and third with one out in the sixth, Brewers reliever Joe Payamps struck out Austin Slater on three pitches and got Wisely to pop out on two. The eighth looked almost identical, again with Blake Sabol and Wilmer Flores in scoring position with one out. Reliever Peter Strzelecki struck out J.D. Davis and Wisely on seven pitches combined.
The Giants didn’t make any noise until a consolation run in the ninth, but an impressive one nonetheless. Thairo Estrada’s solo shot off Brewers closer Devin Williams is the first Williams has allowed to a right-handed hitter in more than a season. The last time it happened? Thairo Estrada on September 2, 2021.
The good news for the Giants is that they have gone 9-7 in their last 16 games, a tough part of the schedule that included a number of teams projected to compete for playoff spots. They also won the series, their second in a row.
Notes:
Alex Wood made a rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento on Sunday, going 3 and 2/3 innings while giving up six hits, two runs, one earned, one strikeout on 46 pitches. Wood has been out since April 18, after sustaining a hamstring injury vs. the Marlins.