Giants break stalemate vs. Brewers with big 7th

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ehire Adrianza's two-run single was the biggest hit in a five-run, seventh-inning outburst Wednesday for the San Francisco Giants, who bested the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-0, at AT&T Park.

The Giants, who concluded a 5-1 homestand, shattered a scoreless tie as Matt Duffy singled and came home on Hunter Pence's double off Milwaukee starter Mike Fiers (5-9) to begin the seventh. Brandon Belt singled, Brandon Crawford launched a sacrifice fly and Hector Sanchez doubled before Adrianza, replacing injured second baseman Joe Panik, grounded his hit to right. That hastened San Francisco's 13th win in its last 15 games.

Adrianza, 25, was appearing in his 76th Major League game and supplanted veteran utility player Joaquin Arias just earlier this week.

Video: MIL@SF: Adrianza plates two with a single, pads lead

"It's not easy to have that role, especially for a young player," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, referring to Adrianza. "That [hit] should do a lot for his confidence."

Milwaukee moved only three baserunners into scoring position against Giants starter Jake Peavy, who worked six innings. Fiers pitched respectably, yielding two hits before San Francisco's big seventh. The Brewers completed a 2-5 trip while going 6-for-47 with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-8 on Wednesday.

"We didn't get anything going today," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "There was no real inning where we had multiple guys on and a big rally. We struggled today. Peavy did a nice job. He was kind of just getting you to chase something at the edge of the zone, and the [Giants] bullpen did a nice job."

Video: MIL@SF: Peavy surrenders four hits over six scoreless

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Defense does its part: Before contributing his key seventh-inning hit, Pence made a breathtaking third-inning catch of Hernan Perez's drive to the right-center-field gap. One inning later, Pence unleashed a one-hop throw that apprehended Jonathan Lucroy, who was trying to advance to third base on Ryan Braun's flyout.

Video: MIL@SF: Pence catches fly, fires to third for two

"That was probably our opportunity, really," Counsell said. "But Pence makes a great play."

Said Pence, "I just tried to get rid of it as quick as I could." More >

For Brewers, too: The Brewers' defense preserved Fiers' shutout bid in the fourth inning after the Giants' Gregor Blanco worked a walk and stole second base. Shortstop Jean Segura made a diving stop of Pence's infield single up the middle, preventing Blanco from scoring on the play. Then catcher Lucroy completed a strikeout, throw-out double play by retiring Pence on the back end of Brandon Belt's check-swing strikeout.

Video: MIL@SF: Brewers strike 'em out, throw 'em out in 4th

Strickland straightens out: Relieving Peavy in the seventh inning, Hunter Strickland missed the strike zone with his first six pitches. Since the game was still scoreless, this looked like a possible breakthrough for the Brewers. But the hard-throwing right-hander recovered to retire the next three hitters.

"It seemed like, initially, he was out of rhythm," Bochy said. "But he found it, and he found it at the right time."

Parra stays hot: After finishing a home run shy of the cycle Tuesday, Brewers leadoff man Gerardo Parra collected two more hits Wednesday to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, matching Parra's career high and extending the longest streak for a Brewers batter this season. Parra's bunt single in the sixth inning and his single through the right side of the infield in the eighth helped the Brewers put runners in scoring position in each of those innings, but Milwaukee was unable to cash in.

QUOTABLE
"It's always so impressive to me when guys are able to reinvent themselves and have a lot of success. A perfect example on our team is Frankie [Francisco Rodriguez]. The guy used to throw 97, 98 mph, now he's 90 mph two-seamers and changeups and does a lot to keep hitters off balance. Obviously, Jake's pure stuff isn't what it was five or six years ago, but he's still having such success." -- Braun, on Peavy

BRAUN BACK FOR BREWERS
Braun returned to Milwaukee's lineup after missing the first two games of the series with back spasms and endured a difficult afternoon, going 0-for-4 including a pair of inning-ending strikeouts, both with two runners on base. He fell to 2-for-17 lifetime against Peavy after making a trio of outs against the veteran.

Video: MIL@SF: Peavy fans Braun to escape a jam in the 6th

WHAT'S NEXT
Brewers: The Brewers return home Thursday to host the Cubs for the start of a four-game series. Jimmy Nelson will work opposite the Cubs' Jake Arrieta in a 7:10 p.m. CT game, the Brewers' last before Friday's non-waiver Trade Deadline.

Giants: San Francisco on Friday makes its first visit to Globe Life Park since the Game 5 clincher of the 2010 World Series against the Rangers. First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. PT. Madison Bumgarner, who pitched eight shutout innings in Game 4 of the 2010 Fall Classic, will return to the mound to start this series' opener.

Watch every out-of-market regular season game live on MLB.TV.