MILWAUKEE (AP) — Aaron Civale and Aaron Ashby combined on a two-hit shutout and William Contreras stole home to help the Milwaukee Brewers beat the San Francisco Giants 6-0 on Thursday.
The NL Central-leading Brewers (77-56) won two of three from the Giants. They are 9 1/2 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs for the biggest 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,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Because they keep posting and keep competing.”
The Giants (67-68) went 2-4 on a six-game trip to fall below .500.
“It looked like an awful game for us, all the way around, whether it was the pitching, defense, offense,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “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 and drove in a run, to go along with his steal of home.
Civale (5-8) worked seven innings for his longest outing of the season. He struck out seven while allowing only two hits and two walks in his third quality start in his last four outings.
The 29-year-old right-hander owns a 1.45 ERA in five starts at American Family Field since the Brewers acquired him in a July 3 trade with the Tampa Bay Rays.
“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.”
Ashby pitched two perfect innings, striking out three.
The Brewers scored two runs in the second off Hayden Birdsong (3-4).
Mitchell hit a one-out homer to right-center. Gary Sánchez followed with a walk before advancing to third on a Joey Ortiz double and scoring on Blake Perkins’ sacrifice fly.
Milwaukee then capitalized on some aggressive baserunning to make it 3-0 in the third.
With runners on the corners and two outs, Willy Adames attempted to steal and was about two-thirds of the way toward second base when Giants shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald took the throw from catcher Patrick Bailey. Adames then headed back toward first, with Fitzgerald moving to his left until he was halfway between first and second.
At that point, Contreras took off from third and attempted to score. Fitzgerald threw to third rather than going to the plate, and third baseman Matt Chapman bobbled the ball before he could throw home. Contreras slid across the plate without a throw and was credited with a steal of home.
“I don’t think that happens a whole lot,” Contreras said through a translator. “I think there’s a little bit of luck in there. I’ll definitely take it. In the books, it goes down as a stolen base of home. I’ll take that.”
The Brewers added three more runs with a two-out rally in the fourth. After Birdsong started the inning with two strikeouts, he walked Blake Perkins and Brice Turang.
Chourio greeted Sean Hjelle with a two-run double to right and scored on Contreras’ base hit to left.
Birdsong struck out six but allowed five runs on four hits and four walks in 3 2/3 innings. It was the rookie’s second straight start in which he walked four batters.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Giants: Bailey (oblique) was reinstated from the 10-day injured list. C Andrew Knapp was designated for assignment.
UP NEXT
Giants: Return home to begin a three-game series with the Miami Marlins. LHP Blake Snell (2-3, 3.76 ERA) pitches for the Giants and RHP Adam Oller (1-1, 5.23 ERA) starts for the Marlins on Friday.
Brewers: Begin a four-game series at Cincinnati with a Friday doubleheader. RHP Colin Rea (12-4, 3.61 ERA) will start the first game Friday for the Brewers. No other starting pitchers for Friday’s doubleheader have been announced.
TOP PHOTO: FILE – Polish Sausage (2) wins the sausage race between innings of a spring training baseball game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Milwaukee Brewers, Sunday, March 8, 2020, in Phoenix, Ariz. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)