Brewers 4, Giants 3
MILWAUKEE -- Blake Lalli's ninth-inning, pinch-hit single scored Jonathan Lucroy and gave the Milwaukee Brewers a 4-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants Wednesday night at Miller Park.
Lucroy led off the inning with a single, and, after a failed sacrifice by Alex Gonzalez, Lucroy moved to second on Carlos Gomez's base hit. Gomez moved to second and Lucroy to third on the play when Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford threw well past first basemen Brandon Belt.
With two on and only one out, Santiago Castilla intentionally walked Yuniesky Betancourt to face pinch-hitter Lalli, who took Castilla's first offering deep enough to get past left fielder Gregor Blanco and score Lucroy.
The Brewers won their season-high third straight game after another solid start by right-hander Kyle Lohse, who was perfect through 4 2/3 innings and kept the Giants hitless through five. He finished the day allowing three runs on six hits with six strikeouts over seven innings.
San Francisco starter Ryan Vogelsong also went seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
Betancourt put the Brewers on the board with a home run -- his second in as many games -- to lead off the third inning. It was the first hit of the day off Vogelsong.
After retiring the first 14 San Francisco batters, Lohse saw his perfect start disappear with two outs in the fifth when he walked Belt. But Blanco flew out to left, ending the inning.
Milwaukee took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the inning. Gonzelz led off with a ground-rule double and scored on Gomez's triple to right. Gomez scored on Betancourt's fly to short right, and Lohse kept the inning going with a single up the middle. But Vogelsong escaped further trouble and Jean Segura grounded out to end the inning.
The Giants finally got to Lohse in the sixth. Crawford led off with a single to right, breaking up the no-hit bid, and San Francisco followed with four more singles in the inning, tying the game on Pablo Sandoval's two-run base hit up the middle, just out of the reach of a diving Segura.
NOTES: Ryan Braun walked in his first two at-bats after striking out a career-high four times Tuesday against San Francisco ... The Giants had the second-best average in the National League coming into the game Wednesday, batting .277 through their first 14 games. ... Milwaukee's Segura began the day hitting .415, tying him with Atlanta's Chris Johnson for first among all NL batters ... Brewers 1B Betancourt homered in the second inning, his second consecutive game with a home run ... San Francisco has grounded into 17 double plays this season, the most in baseball ... Brewers starter Lohse's last outing against the Giants game in Game 7 of the 2012 NLCS. Lohse allowed five runs on six hits in just two innings of work as San Francisco won 9-0 to advance to the World Series.
