Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Lorenzo Cain reaches up for a San Francisco Giants Brandon Belt home run ball which cleared his glove and the fence in the bottom of the sixth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Tue Aug 31, 2021 (AP News photo)
By Jeremy Kahn
SAN FRANCISCO-It seems like the San Francisco Giants went into a rut at the wrong time, especially with the National League Central leading Milwaukee Brewers still in town for the second game of the four-game series.
Helped out by three hits and two runs in the first inning, the National League Central leading Brewers made it two in a row with a 6-2 over the Giants before a crowd of 20,897 at Oracle Park.
This was the third loss in a row for the Giants, their first losing streak of three games or more since they lost four in a row June 27-July 1.
With the loss, coupled with the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium, the Giants lead over the Dodgers in the NL West drops to a half-game, the smallest lead for the Giants since it was a half-game on July 6.
Omar Navarez drove in the only run that the Brewers would need, as he singled off of Cueto to Willy Adames, who singled off of Cueto with one out in the inning. Christian Yelich then followed Adames with a single of his own, and the Brewers second run of the inning, came when Avisail Garcia grounded out for the second out of the inning to score Yelich from third base.
The first hard hit ball of the game came when Lorenzo Cain launched a solo home run into the left field bleachers, when he led off the top of the second inning, it was the sixth home run of the season for Cain.
Rowdy Tellez got in on the RBI parade in the top of the third inning, as he tripled to the opposite field over the head of Alex Dickerson to score Garcia, who was hit by a Cueto pitch with two outs in the inning.
Cueto then walked Jace Peterson, and then Cain made it two RBIs in as many at-bats, when he singled to score Tellez easily from third base.
It looked like Cueto was going to settle down in the top of the fourth inning, especially after he retired the first two batters of the inning; however, Yelich picked up his second hit of the night and then scored all the way from first base on a Navraez single (his second of the night) and moved to second, when Cuetos throw went by Brandon Belt at first base.
Garcia then singled to third base, and was able to reach safely and that was the end of the line for Cueto. Jose Quintana then made his Giants debut in an inauspicious way, as he threw a wild pitch that allowed Garcia to reach second base. Quintana then got out of the jam unscathed, as he got Tellez to ground out to end the inning.
Brandon Woodruff was outstanding for the Brewers, as he went six innings, allowing one run on five hits, walking three and striking out eight on his way to his ninth win of the season against seven losses.
Cueto ended up going 3.2 innings, allowing six runs on 10 hits, walking two and striking out one, as he saw his record fall to 7-7 on the season.
After replacing Cueto, Quintana went 3.1 innings, allowing just one hit, walking one and striking out six and picked up an opposite field single.
LaMonte Wade, Jr., led off the bottom of the first inning with a double off of Woodruff, and asides from three walks between the first and sixth innings, the Giants next hit came with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Quintana singled to right field.
Brandon Belt got the Giants on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning, when he hit his 20th home run of the season and it was the 198th home run of the season for the Giants, who continue to lead the Major Leagues in home runs.
Belt joins Mike Yastrzemski as the two players who have topped the 20-home run plateau, as Yastrzemski leads the team with 21. Between the Chicago Cubs and the Giants, Kris Bryant has a total of 24; however, only six have come as a member of the Giants.
The Giants put two runners on in the bottom of the seventh inning Dickerson struck out to lead off the inning against Jake Cousins, who then walked both pinch-hitter Austin Slater and Wade; however, he got Belt to strikeout for the second out of the inning and then got out of the jam, when got Buster Posey to strikeout for the final out of the inning.
Posey went 0-for-4 on the night, striking out three times and over his 10 last games, Posey is 4-for-34, a .111 batting average.
Wilmer Flores tried to make a little bit more interesting in the bottom of the ninth inning, as he led off the inning by hitting a solo home run into the left field seats. It was the 17th home run of the season for Flores.
NOTES: Quintana was claimed off of waivers from the Los Angeles Angels on Monday, was activated prior to the game and Cueto was activated from the 10-day injured list.
To make room for Quintana and Cueto on the active roster, both pitcher John Brebbia and infielder Jason Vosler were optioned to Sacramento.
In their City Connect jerseys, the Giants lost for the first time and are 6-1 in the jerseys since they debuted them against the Washington Nationals on July 9.
Ron Wotus, the longest-tenured coach in Giants history and current third base coach announced prior to the game that he will be stepping from coaching at the end of the season. This is the 34th season for Wotus in the Giants organization.
I love this game. I love this team. I love the organization, Wotus said. Im grateful that Im in a position to do this. I’m going to miss it. It was not an easy decision by no means, but I just feel its time for me.
Wotus joined the big club in 1998, when he was hired by then manager Dusty Baker to be his third base coach and then moved to be the bench coach under Baker, Felipe Alou and Bruce Bochy from 1999-2017 before he moved back to being the third base coach in 2018. He was the only holdover when Gabe Kapler replaced Bochy after he retired in 2019.
UP NEXT: Kevin Gausman goes for his 13th win of the season on Wednesday night, as he takes the mound for the Giants, while Brett Anderson goes to the mound for the Brewers, as he looks for his fifth win of the season.
