Brewers Unlucky in 13-2 loss to San Francisco

Aug 29, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Wily Peralta (38) reacts after a base hit by the San Francisco in the third inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports.

Buster Posey went five-for-five and Ryan Vogelsong pitched seven solid innings for San Francisco as the Giants scored in each of the first five innings to cruise to a 13-2 win over Milwaukee Friday night at AT&T Park.

The Brewers (73-60) came into tonight’s game with a lead of 1 1/2 games over St. Louis in the N. L. Central. The Giants sported a record of 71-62, four and one-half games behind Los Angeles in the N. L. West. Both teams are firmly in the playoff hunt, but haven’t been playing like it the last month, with the Brewers winning 15 of their last 30 and San Francisco winning 14 of 30 in that same span.

Wily Peralta (15-8, 3.56 ERA) took the mound for Milwaukee while Vogelsong (7-9, 3.78 ERA) toed the slab for the home team.

The Giants took advantage of shoddy Brewers play in the bottom of the first to grab a 3-0 lead.

With one out, Joe Panik and Buster Posey both singled to put runners at the corners. Peralta tossed a wild pitch that scored Panik and moved Posey to second to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. Pablo Sandoval singled to center–scoring Posey–and advanced to second when Carlos Gomez loosed an ill-advised throw to the plate.

Hunter Pence promptly knocked in Sandoval with a base hit to center to make it 3-0.

Michael Morse was hit by a pitch and Gregor Blanco walked to load the bases with one out. But Brandon Crawford banged a grounder to short and the Brewers turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

The Brewers cut into the lead in the top of the second as Jonathan Lucroy led off with a double off the right field wall. Gerardo Parra grounded to first to move Lucroy over to third, and then the Brewers catcher scored on a Lyle Overbay grounder to short.

Elian Herrera reached on an infield single but was stranded when Peralta struck out to end the inning with the Brewers trailing 3-1.

The Giants got right back at it in the bottom of the second.

Vogelsong battled and rapped a liner to right to lead off the inning. Angel Pagan then drove a ball over the head of Gomez in deep center to put runners at second and third.

After Panik lined to second, Posey grounded a ball past the diving Herrera at short to score Vogelsong and give the Giants a 4-1 lead.

Sandoval struck out and it looked like the Brewers would get out of the inning when Pence hit a one-hopper back to the mound, but the ball bounced off Peralta’s glove and rolled behind him as Pagan scored on the base hit to give the Giants a 5-1 lead. Morse flied out to end the inning.

Peralta  almost got his first scoreless inning in the third, but Blanco walked and stole second and with two down, Pagan lined a ball to left to score Blanco for a 6-1 lead.

Vogelsong notched his second straight perfect inning in the top of the fourth and then San Francisco tacked on more in their half of the inning.

Marco Estrada came in to pitch for Milwaukee in the bottom of the fourth. Peralta left after three, allowing nine hits and six earned runs. He struck out one and walked two.

Posey reached on an infield single  before Sandoval struck out. Pence was safe on a fielding error by Herrera to put runners on first and second. Morse walked to load the bags and then Blanco got the free pass to drive in Posey. Crawford and Vogelsong grounded out to end the frame.

The Brewers managed to tack on a run in the top half of the fifth.

Overbay and Herrera singled before Estrada moved them both up a base with his sacrifice. Gomez then scored Overbay to make it 8-2 on a fly to deep center before Scooter Gennett grounded out to end the inning.

Pagan ripped his third hit of the night with a liner to ‘Triples Alley’ in right center and cruised into third with a stand-up three-bagger. He had to hold when Panik blooped a ball to no-man’s land in short left field.

No matter, as Posey lashed a triple to right-center over the head of Gomez for two more RBIs to make it 10-2.

One out later, Pence knocked in his third run with his third hit to give the Giants an 11-2 lead, a blooper that fell in front of Gomez.

Just when Brewer fans thought it couldn’t get any worse, Blanco ripped his fourth homer of the season to right field to increase the lead to 13-2.

Left-hander Tom Gorzelanny entered the game for Milwaukee in the bottom of the sixth and pitched the first scoreless inning for Milwaukee, although two batters reached on singles.

After Gorzelanny walked two and allowed a single to load the bases in the bottom of the seventh, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke brought in Brandon Kintzler, who coaxed a double play grounder to get out of the inning.

George Kontos came in to face the Brewers in the top of the eighth. Vogelsong left after seven complete, allowing four hits and two earned runs, while striking out seven and walking one.

The Brewers managed one baserunner in the last two innings but failed to score, dropping the 13-2 decision.

Peralta dropped to 15-9 with the loss, while Vogelsong improved to 8-9 with his solid effort for the Giants.

Mike Fiers (4-1, 1.54 ERA) will face Jake Peavy (2-4, 3.18 ERA) on Saturday in game two of the three game series.