Giants Rally Stopped By Replay Review, Fall To Brewers
Giants manager Bruce Bochy was wondering what exactly is the definition of conclusive.
Gerardo Parra snapped a tie with a home run in the seventh - his first hit since been acquired by the Brewers - and Milwaukee recorded the final out of its 4-3 victory Tuesday night against San Francisco when a replay review overturned a safe call at first base.
"I didn't think they were going to overturn it," Bochy said. "I just don't see how it got overturned. It was so close. You always hear the word `conclusive.' But they did, and that is the game."
With two outs in the ninth, Brewers closer Frankie Rodriguez walked Hunter Pence. Joe Panik then bounced to second baseman Rickie Weeks, who was shielded on the play by Pence before making the throw to first. Brewers managed Ron Roenicke challenged the safe call by first base umpire Hal Gibson, which was overturned after a review of about 3 minutes, 17 seconds.
"It was bang-bang. It was really, really close," said Rodriguez, who pitched the ninth for his 33rd save. "That's why I didn't make any gestures about it. It was tough. In the end, they got it right, which is the thing that matters the most."
The victory preserved the Brewers one-game lead in the NL Central Division over St. Louis, which rallied past Boston 3-2. Pittsburgh fell 2 1-2 games back after losing to Miami, 6-3. The Giants went into Tuesday 1 1-2 games behind the front-running Dodgers in the NL West.
" They are all so big now," Bochy said. "Every game is so important. Two teams are playing for a lot here. Very similar teams, hard fought game."
Parra, acquired at the trade deadline from Arizona, homered with two outs off reliever Jean Machi (6-1).
The Giants erased a 3-0 deficit on Pablo Sandoval's three-run homer in the sixth off rookie Jimmy Nelson (2-2), who allowed three runs in six hits in seven innings.
"Pablo really delivered for us," Bochy said. "You'd like to win a game when you make a nice comeback like that. We are in August, they are not do-or-die games but they are really, really important."
Carlos Gomez staked the Brewers to a 2-0 lead in the third with his 16th home run off Tim Lincecum.
Gomez also drove in the Brewers third run in the fifth on a perfect squeeze bunt after Weeks advanced to third on a two-out wild pitch.
Parra's home run off Machi snapped a streak of 23 1-3 consecutive scoreless innings by the Giants bullpen. "(Machi) just left that pitch up," Bochy said.
Despite battling back to tie the game, the Giants fell to 16-40 when the other team scores first, compared with 45-12 when they score the first run.
Nelson's third-inning single was his second hit in his last three at-bats, which followed 66 hitless at-bats as a professional, 59 in the minors and his first seven with the Brewers. "Even down there, I was making good contact, it just wasn't falling," Nelson said. "My strikeouts were down from the first year, I was actually making more contact, but hitting them right at guys. They had to start falling sometime."
Brewers shortstop Segura made a sensational play behind second, spinning to throw out Pence at first to apparently end the third inning. But Bochy challenged the call and it was overturned.
Milwaukee's Jonathan Lucroy doubled twice to give him 37 on the season, second in the NL to Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt, who has 39, but is out for the remainder of the season after suffering a broken left hand when he was hit by a pitch.
Giants: Outfielder Angel Pagan, who was scheduled to play his second rehab game Tuesday night with Triple-A Fresno, could rejoin the Giants on Wednesday in Milwaukee. He has been on the DL with back issues.
Brewers: Manager Ron Roenicke has yet to decide who will start in place of injured right-hander Matt Garza, on the 15-day DL with a strained oblique. Marco Estrada, moved to the bullpen after 18 starts, is a likely candidate.
Giants: Ryan Vogelsong (6-8, 3.74 ERA) allowed just one run on two hits in nine innings in his last start after going 0-4 with a 4.55 ERA in July.
Brewers: Yovani Gallardo (6-5, 3.38 ERA) has a string of 16 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings. He is 6-3 with a 2.81 ERA in nine career starts against the Giants.