SAN FRANCISCO -- Back-to-back four-run outbursts complemented Johnny Cueto's dominant pitching Wednesday as the San Francisco Giants completed a three-game series sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers and won their fifth straight with a 10-1 rout.
The Giants enjoyed a cornucopia of offense. Buster Posey's two-run single in the third inning opened the scoring, while Gregor Blanco, Joe Panik, Matt Duffy and Angel Pagan -- two days removed from the disabled list -- each contributed three hits to San Francisco's 16 overall. Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson (5-6), yielded half of the Giants' hits and committed one of four Brewers errors, allowing six earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.
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"We didn't do ourselves any favors," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "Just too many mistakes, too many outs we left out there. Sometimes when you're scuffling a little bit, you need that play to be made just to get you through to the next inning and get a fresh start on the next inning."

Though pitching has been the primary theme of the Giants' rise to the top of the National League West standings, they relied largely on offense against Milwaukee. Blanco made the most of a rare return to the leadoff spot, scoring twice, while Posey rapped two more hits and finished the series 8-for-12.
Duffy, who has struggled through most of the season, expressed confidence that he has made a mechanical adjustment that will enable him to keep his weight back and stop lunging at the ball when he swings.
"When you do that, you don't give yourself a chance to see the ball very well," Duffy said.

Cueto (10-1) became the National League's third 10-game winner. He struck out nine in seven innings and yielded Milwaukee's lone run. He also won his eighth consecutive decision over the Brewers while extending his personal winning streak to seven decisions.

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MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
No fooling around: This was a somewhat unusual performance for Cueto, who mostly refrained from displaying his personal quirks such as shimmying his shoulders in mid-delivery or surprising opponents with quick pitches. With a few exceptions, the right-hander remained strictly business. And he was as effective as ever.
"It just didn't come out," Cueto said, referring to his idiosyncrasies. More >

• Cueto drops the shimmy on 'quick pitch'
Nelson's rough outing: Nelson had all sorts of problems while losing his third consecutive start. The right-hander was unable to make it out of the fourth inning for the first time this season and matched his career high of eight runs allowed.
"I felt like my stuff had pretty good movement today," Nelson said. "I fell behind some guys, walked a couple guys, but it was also a couple bad breaks there. It's very frustrating for me. The last three [starts] have been completely unacceptable. It's just been brutal."

Blanco feels at home: With Denard Span playing regularly, Blanco has received relatively few opportunities to bat leadoff. So Blanco relished the opportunity he received Wednesday as Span rested.
"I feel more aggressive in the leadoff spot," Blanco said.
He's also feeling healthier. He revealed that he was diagnosed with a partially torn labrum a month ago, and he recently received a cortisone shot and reported feeling better, though he still didn't feel quite right.  But he refused to cite that as a source of his recent 0-for-27 skid.
"I don't make excuses," Blanco said. "But I know that wasn't my swing."

An RBI at last:Alex Presley hadn't driven in a run in 21 consecutive games before his two-out infield single in the fifth knocked in Hernan Perez. Presley, who was making a rare start in place of Ryan Braun, didn't get the ball out of the infield, but second baseman Panik couldn't field the high chopper cleanly, allowing Presley to end his lengthy drought.

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WHAT'S NEXT
Brewers: Right-hander Junior Guerra makes his first career start against the Dodgers when the two teams begin a four-game series in Los Angeles on Thursday at 9:10 p.m. CT. Guerra is 3-1 with a 3.31 ERA but is winless over his previous four starts.
Giants: After Thursday's scheduled off-day, the Giants will travel east for a three-game weekend series against the Rays. Friday's 4:10 p.m. PT series opener features an attractive pitching matchup between San Francisco's Jeff Samardzija and Tampa Bay's Chris Archer.
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