Brewers can't stop free-fall
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Brewers' continued slump has left manager Ned Yost speechless.
Pedro Feliz scored from first base on Rich Aurilia's single to right field in the eighth inning, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 5-4 victory over Milwaukee on Sunday and completing a three-game sweep.
"The way we've been playing right now, we need to find ways to be a better team," Yost said. "And that's all I have to say."
The Brewers continue to trail the Cubs by 1½ games in the NL Central, and have lost four in a row and seven of their last 10 to drop to 25-40 on the road. Their next series is a three-game set at Wrigley Field, beginning Tuesday.
With two outs, Aurilia hit a high fly ball off Scott Linebrink (4-5) that landed near right fielder Corey Hart, second baseman Rickie Weeks and the foul line. Feliz scored easily when Hart's throw traveled up the third base line.
"I didn't want to dive for it," Hart said. "I just made a bad throw."
Said Feliz: "The wind is kind of crazy here and I saw he was playing back. You have to take advantage of that."
Aurilia thought the ball would be caught and appeared disgusted after hitting it.
"Fortunately there were two outs and Pedro was running the whole way," Aurilia said. "I just found a lucky spot to drop it in."
Steve Kline (1-2) pitched the eighth for his first win of the season and Brad Hennessey got the final three outs for his 14th save in 16 chances, including the last 11 in a row.
"Come-from-behind wins are always more exciting," Hennessey said. "It's huge for us to get on a good run right now and build for next year."
The Giants had not swept a series at home since May 21-23 against the Houston Astros.
Ryan Braun, who came into the series in a 3-for-28 slump, gave the Brewers a 4-1 advantage with his 3-run homer in the third. He has played in only 90 games, but is 3 homers shy of tying the Brewers' rookie home run record of 28 set by Prince Fielder last season.
The third baseman, a leading candidate for NL Rookie of the Year, had 5 hits in 13 at-bats against Giants pitching and is batting .389 (14-for-36) against them this season.