Brewers Can’t Overcome Rough Start by Yovani Gallardo, Fall to Giants

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The Brewers beat the San Francisco Giants in game one of their three-game series Monday night thanks to a late, go-ahead home run off the bat of Gerardo Parra for his first Brewers hit.

Parra was in the lineup again for the Crew as Khris Davis continued to rest a sore elbow. Game two pitted Yovani Gallardo (6-5, 3.38 ERA) against Ryan Vogelsong (6-8, 3.88 ERA).

Coming into tonight’s game, Gallardo had just allowed three earned runs in his last four starts, totaling 27 innings of work, but he didn’t have it tonight and the Brewers couldn’t buy a run for a good chunk of the game with many hard hit outs en route to a 7-4 Giants win.

Hunter Pence led off with a single back up the middle and Joe Panik followed with a single of his own. Buster Posey knocked a ground ball to short. Jean Segura fired to second to get Panik, but they couldn’t turn two.

Pablo Sandoval singled to left to drive in Pence and give the Giants an early lead. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch by Gallardo. Yovani came back to strike out Brandon Belt for the second out.

Michael Morse smacked a broken-bat single up the middle to bring in Posey and Sandoval. Gregor Blanco drew a four-pitch walk to put two on. Again Gallardo advanced the runners with a wild pitch, before walking Brandon Crawford.

Vogelsong grounded out to end the inning. He grounded to Segura who went to second for the short out but was too late to get Crawford but Vogelsong stopped running and Segura threw him out at first. Had Vogelsong kept running he’d have been safe and the Giants would have scored a run.

Carlos Gomez cut the lead by a run with a lead-off home run in the Brewer half of the first.

Gallardo settled down in the second, working around an infield single by Panik for the only Giants action in the inning. With two outs in the Brewer half of the inning Martin Maldonado collected an infield single of his own.

Segura followed with a single to put two on for Gallardo but Gallardo flew out to deep center after a seven-pitch at bat to end the inning.

Blanco drew a two-out walk in the top of the third and moved to third on a hit-and-run single by Crawford to put runners at the corners. Gallardo walked the pitcher, Vogelsong, on four pitches to load the bases for the top of the order. Gallardo got Pence to ground out to Ramirez at third base to end the inning without the Giants scoring a run.

With one out in the bottom half of the inning Parra drew a walk. He moved to third two batters later on a Ramirez single to right but they were both left stranded on a Jonathan Lucroy strike out.

Posey and Sandoval had back-to-back one-out singles for the Giants in the fourth inning. Belt followed with a fielder’s choice ground out. He rocketed one at Lucroy who knocked it down and fired to Segura at second to erase Sandoval.

Morse followed with his second RBI single of the game to drive in Posey and collect his third RBI of the game. Gallardo struck out Blanco to end the inning.

Scooter Gennett singled to left to lead off the bottom of the fourth, but he was erased on a Maldonado double-play ground out. Segura followed with a single to put a man on, and Mark Reynolds came on to pinch-hit for Gallardo.

The final line on Yovani was four innings pitched, allowing four runs on nine hits and four walks with four strike outs. Reynolds struck out looking to end the inning.

Marco Estrada came on in the fifth for Milwaukee. He got Milwaukee’s first three-up, three-down inning of the game. Vogelsong matched him in the bottom of the frame, despite a couple hard hit balls by the Crew.

Estrada worked his second three-up, three-down inning in the top of the sixth. Gennett knocked a two-out single to right to give Milwaukee some life in the bottom of the inning.

Vogelsong hit Maldonado with his next pitch to put two on. Segura fought Vogelsong hard, with a 10-pitch at bat but he flew out to deep center to end the inning.

Estrada retired the first two hitters in the seventh to make it eight straight hitters retired but Blanco belted a two-out single to give the Giants some life. Crawford flew out to right to end the inning. It was Estrada’s third scoreless frame.

Juan Gutierrez came on for Vogelsong in the Brewer half of the seventh. Vogelsong threw six innings and allowed one run on seven hits and one walk. He struck out three.

Rickie Weeks came in to pinch hit for Estrada and led off with a single up the middle off Gutierrez’ glove and into center field. Gomez reached on an error by Sandoval to put two on. He knocked a hard ground ball down the line in left. Sandoval got a glove on it but it trickled away and allowed Gomez to reach. That was it for Gutierrez as Bruce Bochy called for Jeremy Affeldt to face Parra.

Ron Roenicke countered by bringing in Khris Davis to face Affeldt. Davis launched a fly ball to deep right field but Pence ran it down on the warning track. Weeks moved to third on the play. With Gomez stealing second Braun bounced to short and Crawford fired home to get Weeks out for the second out of the inning. Gomez and Braun took off on a double steal on the first pitch to Ramirez.

Ramirez grounded a seeing-eye single through the hole between third and short to bring in both Gomez and Braun and cut the lead to one run. Lucroy followed with a single up the middle to put two back on but the inning ended on a Gennett pop out.

Brandon Kintzler came on to pitch the eighth for Milwaukee and promptly gave up a single to Juan Perez. Pence followed with a hit-and-run single to put two on for the middle of the line up. Pence was thrown out by Maldonado trying to steal second for the first out of the inning. Panik laced a single up the middle through the drawn-in infield to bring in Perez and make it a 5-3 game.

Posey laced a line drive to deep left-center but it hung up long enough for Gomez to run it down for the second out and end the night for Kintzler as Roenicke called for Tom Gorzelanny to face Sandoval.

Sandoval lined a two-run home run over the wall in left to make it 7-3. Gorzelanny struck out Belt to end the inning. Kintzler allowed two runs on three hits in 2/3 of an inning. Gorzelanny allowed one run on one hit in 1/3 of an inning in the eighth.

Sergio Romo came on to toss the bottom of the eighth for the Giants. After striking out Maldonado he gave up an infield single to Segura.  Romo fielded the ball near the third-base line and threw it away with no chance to get Segura. Segura advanced to second on the throwing error. Weeks struck out on three pitches for the second out and Gomez struck out for the third out of the inning.

Gorzelanny returned to the bump in the ninth for Milwaukee. He got strike outs of Joaquin Arias and Blanco before walking Crawford, leading to Roenicke calling for Rob Wooten. Wooten walked Perez to put two on but Pence grounded out to Segura to end the inning.

Giants closer Santiago Casilla came on to toss the ninth. Davis led off the inning with a home run (18) to left to cut the lead to three runs. Santiago came back and struck out Braun and Ramirez before a Lucroy ground out to end the game with the Giants on top 7-4.

Gallardo took the loss tonight after four great starts for Milwaukee. Vogelsong picked up the win for the Giants.

Game three will wrap up the series tomorrow with Wily Peralta (13-6, 3.52 ERA) taking on new Giant, Jake Peavy (1-11, 4.73 ERA).