Milwaukee Brewers starter Aaron Civale was dealing against the San Francisco Giants throwing a combined two hit shutout at American Family Park in Milwaukee on Thu Aug 29, 2024 (AP News photo)

Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024

American Family Field

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

San Francisco Giants 0 (67-68)

Milwaukee Brewers 6 (77-56)

Win: Aaron Civale (5-8)

Loss: Hayden Birdsong (3-4)

Time: 2:14

Attendance: 30,920

By Stephen Ruderman

The Giants’ offense went dead Thursday, as Aaron Civale pitched a two-hitter over seven innings, and the Brewers got to Hyden Birdsong for five runs in a 5-0 win in the series finale in Milwaukee.

After a big 5-4 seesaw win for the Giants in the series opener on Tuesday, the Brewers exploded for five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning Wednesday night for a 5-3 win to even the series. The Giants were knocked back to .500 at 67-67, as well as a season-high six and a half games back of the third wild card in the National League.

Thursday, the Giants had a chance to win this series on the road against a powerful Brewers’ team. The Giants had an opportunity to get on the board early against Brewers’ starter Aaron Civale in the top of the first inning.

A one-out walk to Tyler Fitzgerald and a two-out base-hit by Michael Conforto put runners at the corners for Matt Chapman. Civale struck Chapman out swinging at a cutter on the outside corner, and the Giants had already wasted a golden opportunity right off the bat.

Hayden Birdsong took the ball for the Giants in the bottom of the first, as he was coming off a start in Seattle on Friday, in which his lack of control knocked him out after four innings. Birdsong threw 80 pitches, and 41 of them were balls. Brice Turang led off the inning with a base-hit to left field, but Birdsong retired the side in order while striking out a pair to end the inning.

Civale threw a one, two, three inning in the top of the second, and then Birdsong would run into trouble in the bottom of the second. First, Grant McCray, who has been impressing with his defense since being called up, robbed Wily Adames of a base-hit with a diving catch in shallow center to start the inning.

Unfortunately, Garrett Mitchell followed that up with a home run to right-center. Birdsong was not out of the woods yet. A walk to Gary Sanchez and a double by Joey Ortiz put runners at second and third with one out, and Blake Perkins knocked Sanchez in with a sacrifice fly to center.

The Giants were unable to do anything with a two-out base-hit by Fitzgerald in the top of the third, and Birdsong ran into more trouble in the bottom of the third. William Contreras drew a walk with one out, Adames singled him over to third two batters later.

Mitchell came up to the plate with runners at the corners and two outs. With a 1-2 count, Birdsong threw a fastball up and away for ball two, and Adames took off for second. The throw from catcher Patrick Bailey, who was activated off the Injured List today, went to shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald, and as Adames backed away and started retreating back towards first, Contreras took off for the plate. For whatever reason, Fitzgerald threw the ball to third, as Contreras scored to make it 3-0, and Adames retreated back to first.

Fitzgerald could have thrown home, but what he really should have done was start running towards Contreras to get him stuck in a rundown. Fitzgerald has been a great story for the Giants this season, but he made a mental mistake, something that has become far too common with analytics people running organizations and baseball people shoved out and unable to teach players basic fundamentals in their development.

Civale threw another one, two, three inning in the top of the fourth, and Birdsong just couldn’t stay out of trouble, as the Brewers rallied once again in the bottom of the fourth. Birdsong retired the first two men he faced, but walks to Perkins and Turang forced him out of the game.

Bob Melvin brought in Sean Hjelle, and he drew a rude welcome from Jackson Chourio, who lined a double off the end of the bat into the corner down the right field line to knock in a pair and make it 5-0. Contreras then singled on a ground ball that got through into left field, and Chourio scored to make it 6-0.

For Birdsong, his struggles with his control and just overall continued, as he gave up five runs and four hits over three and two thirds innings, while walking four and striking out six. He threw 92 pitches, and just 49 of them were strikes.

After a leadoff walk to Jerar Encarnacion to start the top of the fifth, Civale retired the side in order, and the Giants would not get another base-runner for the rest of the game.

Civale went seven shutout innings, as he gave up just two hits, walked two and struck out seven. Left-hander Aaron Ashby, the nephew of former right-handed starter Andy Ashby, then threw a pair of one, two, three innings in the eighth and ninth.

As for Giants’ pitchers today, Hjelle pitched a scoreless inning in the bottom of the fifth, and Landen Roupp pitched three shutout innings. The six and seventh were rocky for Roupp, as he got out of a pair of jams. However, he finished his day nicely with a one, two, three bottom of the eighth.

Aaron Civale got the win, and Hayden Birdsong took the loss.

The Giants have been knocked back under .500, as they fall to 67-68. The Giants are now seven games back of the Braves, who will begin a four-game series Thursday night in Philadelphia against the Phillies.

The Giants will now return home for a six-game homestand with three against the Miami Marlins, and three against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Giants will begin their series against the Marlins tomorrow.

Blake Snell (2-3, 3.76 ERA), who is coming off a rough start in Seattle on Saturday, will take the ball for the Giants, and he will be opposed by Adam Oller (1-1, 5.23 ERA) on Friday night at Oracle Park. First pitch will be at 7:15 p.m.

Giants News and Notes:

Patrick Bailey went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in his return from the IL.

To make room for Bailey on the 26-Man Roster, catcher Andrew Knapp was designated for assignment. Knapp had just been acquired last Friday, and he went 1-for-6 in three games for the Giants with a pait of strikeouts.

Matt Chapman played in his 1,000th-career game Thursday. However, it was nothing special, as like Bailey, Chapman went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.