San Francisco Giants Willy Adames connects for a top of the first inning home run against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Park in Milwaukee on Fri Aug 22, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The San Francisco Giants (61-68) tied up the game in the ninth inning 4-4 in their matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers (80-48). It was just not enough. Willie Contreras hit a home run with two outs to lift the Brewers to their 81st win of the season for a 5-4 victory.

After fighting so hard it was heartbreaking for San Francisco when it really looked like extra innings. San Francisco hit three home runs in the game 1 from Luis Matos and Willie Adames had two long balls.

Game recap: One again the Giants took an early 2-0 lead much like in yesterday’s game. San Francisco struck in the first and second innings. Willy Adames got the team up on the scoreboard in the first inning hitting a solo home run to left.

In the second inning San Francisco hit a second home run off the bat of Luis Matos for a 2-0 lead. Starting pitcher for San Francisco Whisenhunt had three great innings. The first and second innings were three and out for the Giants.

He got out of the third inning giving up a double. He hit a bit of a wall in the bottom of the fourth inning giving up a couple of walks, a couple of wild pitches (one that brought in a Brewer run) a single and a double. He did go four innings, giving up two earned runs, two walks and one strikeout. He was relieved by Matt Gage going into the fifth inning with the game all tied up 2-2.

The bottom of the fourth inning was the turning point for Milwaukee. Sal Frelich doubled driving Christian Yelich home cutting the Giants lead in half.. The Brewers would tie up the game 2-2 in the same inning when Andrew Vaughn scored from third base on a wild Whisenhunt pitch.

Going into the sixth inning the only hits the Giants had so far in the game were the Willy Adames and Luis Matos home runs. San Francisco needed some base runners although they were handling the Brewers pretty well; Milwaukee only had four hits so far in the game.

With two outs and two runners on base the Giants had a great opportunity to do some damage. Casey Schmitt walked and with Wilmer Flores and Rafael Devers on base the bases were loaded. Jung Hoo Lee came to the plate looking to break this game wide open. It didn’t happen. Lee struck out leaving the bases loaded. An opportunity lost.

The two teams took the tie into the top of the seventh inning. After jumping out to take the lead in the early innings the Giants had really stalled out with only two hits in the game. The Brewers were not having a great game at the plate either with only four hits.

Milwaukee starting pitcher Jose Quintana went 5 1/3 innings allowing two hits, two runs, two walks and two strikeout in this closely contested game. It was just a matter of time before the Brewers got on track and it all came down in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Milwaukee scored two runs to take a 4-2 lead. Willie Contreras doubled Andruw Monasterio home for the first run of the inning. Andrew Vaughn grounded out allowing Brice Turang to score.

San Francisco had their third hit of the game in the top of the eighth inning. Adames hit his second home run of the game fighting to keep pace with the Brewers.

The Giants were down to their last three outs in the top of the ninth inning. Schmitt was first at bat and struck out. Lee grounded out and San Francisco was down to their last out. Luis Matos doubled and the Giants were back in business with the go-ahead run at the plate.

Dominic Smith singled and San Francisco had runners at first and third with Patrick Bailey at the plate. Bailey struck out but the Giants scored on a wild pitch to tie up the game 4-4. This game went into the bottom of the ninth and the Brewers had three at bats to walk this game off. A fly out and a ground out set the stage for a game winning Contreras home run. Milwaukee had their 81st win of the season 5-4.

After fighting back to tie the game it was another terrible loss for the Giants. They fought hard the entire game and came so close. They made the Brewers earn this win.

Game notes: The Giants opened a weekend series with Milwaukee in a weekend series. The Brewers are the best team in baseball right now and presented all kinds of problems for San Francisco. The Giants played this game in front of yet another packed house at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

San Francisco is coming off a losing series against the San Diego Padres got some better offense but lost by a run. They have struggled at the plate for a bit and they couldn’t turn it around. The Brewers just finished a four-game series with the Chicago Cubs splitting the series after winning games one and four.

With only 34 games left in the season and a half dozen teams in line vying for a wild card now is the time for San Francisco to turn their recent struggles around but opened the series with a loss to the Brewers on Friday night. Giants starter Carson Whisenhunt pitched four innings allowing four hits and two earned runs in the loss.

Game two in this series is slated for a 4:10 PM first pitch. Logan Webb will take the mound for the GIants with a 11-9 win/loss record and a 3.19 ERA. Freddy Peralta will start for Milwaukee with 15-5 win/loss record and a 2.78 ERA.