The Milwaukee Brewers were cruising toward the National League Central title just a week ago but have hit a speed bump with back-to-back losses.
The Brewers will look to bounce back behind right-hander Freddy Peralta and even the three-game series against the visiting San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night.
Peralta (8-7, 3.86 ERA) will be opposed by left-hander Kyle Harrison (7-5, 4.00).
The Giants won the series opener 5-4 Tuesday night behind three home runs. Mike Yastrzemski’s two-run shot in the seventh provided the go-ahead runs, and Matt Chapman and Grant McCray added solo homers.
San Francisco won for just the 10th time when trailing after six innings (10-52).
Rookie Jackson Chourio and Willy Adames each contributed a two-run homer to account for all of the Brewers’ runs. Milwaukee stranded 11 runners and was just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Milwaukee, which led the NL Central by 11 1/2 games a week ago, now is nine games up on the second-place Cubs. Chicago made up the ground by going 5-2 in the past seven games, with the Brewers 3-4.
The Giants are 5 1/2 games out of the final NL wild-card spot.
Chourio’s 449-foot shot was the Brewers’ longest home run of the season. Over his past 67 games, the 20-year-old rookie is hitting .315 (78-for-248) with 11 homers, 15 doubles and 43 RBIs.
Adames’ 24 homers and 88 RBIs lead the team. Seventeen of his home runs have come with at least one runner aboard, and 10 are three-run homers.
In his most recent outing, Peralta allowed three hits over five scoreless innings but did not get the decision in a 3-0 road loss against the St. Louis Cardinals last Thursday.
“I thought [Peralta] was good,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said afterward. “Five innings of shutout against a team that’s got nothing to lose, you know what I mean? … The pitch count got up there, and I’m not interested in him going 100-plus [pitches] when he’s got a lot of big starts left.”
Peralta is 2-2 with a 3.20 ERA over his past seven starts, striking out 34 and walking 17 in 39 1/3 innings. He is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in three career games (two starts) against the Giants, all at American Family Field.
San Francisco has played four consecutive one-run games, winning two.
“They all have a personality of their own,” manager Bob Melvin said after Tuesday’s win about the characteristics of each game. “We’re very aware that every night feels like this, so there’s never really a break throughout the course of a game. And you’re playing some good teams on top of it.”
McCray has hit safely in eight of his 11 games since being called up from Triple-A Sacramento on Aug. 14, batting .308 (12-for-39) with three homers, three doubles and four RBIs.
“We saw him in spring training just a couple times to back up in road games, and now all of a sudden he’s the everyday center fielder,” Melvin said. “Give him a lot of credit for the work he’s put in.”
Harrison picked up the victory his last time out, allowing one run on five hits over six innings in a 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 19.
Harrison is 3-1 with a 3.47 ERA over his past seven starts but is 1-1 with a 5.59 ERA in four starts this month. He has never faced the Brewers.
