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MILWAUKEE -- Chase Anderson just keeps on dealing. Anderson hadn't allowed a run in either of his last two starts and kept right on rolling Tuesday, pitching 7 2/3 scoreless innings to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Miller Park.
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"Three starts, no runs -- that's driving the bus," manager Craig Counsell said.
He allowed a leadoff single to Denard Span to open the game but faced the minimum through four innings thanks to a pair of double plays from the Brewers' defense and a timely throw from catcher Jett Bandy, who caught Eduardo Nunez trying to swipe second base in the fourth inning.
Anderson (5-1) would allow just four more baserunners on the day and gave way to the bullpen with two out and one on in the ninth, having allowed seven hits with a walk while striking out four.
"It's been fun lately, that's for sure," said Anderson, who has struck out 22 while walking only four over his last three starts. "It's nice when your offense comes out and gets you a little lead. You can relax a little bit."
Giants starter Matt Cain's misfortune in the second helped Anderson pitch with an early lead.
Hernan Perez led off the inning with his seventh home run of the season but Cain (3-5) missed a chance to get out of it when Eric Sogard doubled to shallow left field on a pop fly that Brandon Crawford, charging from shortstop, couldn't snare and instead fell between himself, left fielder Austin Slater and Nunez, the third baseman.
"It's tough but that's part of the game," Cain said. "There's not much you can do about it really. You make the quality pitch you wanted to, the guy puts a good swing on it and it falls in between three guys. There's not much else you can do about it."
Domingo Santana followed with an RBI double to put the Brewers up 4-0 and Cain went on to load the bases before finally getting out of the inning by getting Perez on a fly ball to center.
He allowed one more run in the third, on an RBI double by Anderson, but kept the score there through five innings, finishing with 10 hits, two walks and three strikeouts.
"When you have a hot hitter, it seems like those things fall in," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "(Crawford) went a long way but couldn't quite get it. It ended up being three runs, really, with the base hit after that so Matt had to work hard but he could have fared a lot better than what happened tonight."
With a comfortable lead in hand, Anderson settled in from there. He allowed just four baserunners over his final 3 2/3 innings of work and got two more double plays from the Brewers' defense.
"The double plays got us tonight," Bochy said. "Those are rally-killers.
"Give the pitcher credit -- he's making pitches to induce ground balls and we hit a lot of grounders. We just couldn't keep it moving tonight. That was the difference from other games on this road trip when we've been scoring. When we haven't been scoring, usually there have been a lot of double plays involved."
Once again, the Brewers' bullpen made things interesting. Carlos Torres allowed three consecutive singles to open the ninth, spoiling the shutout bid.
Brandon Crawford reached on a fielder's choice, driving in another run, but a throwing error on Torres put runners at first and second with nobody out. Milwaukee turned to closer Corey Knebel, who retired the next three batters for his sixth save of the year.
NOTES: The Giants acquired RHP Sam Dyson from the Rangers for cash or a player to be named. Dyson began the season as Texas' closer but lost that job after blowing three straight save opportunities in April and was designated for assignment Friday, having posted a 10.80 ERA in 16 2/3 innings. ... Brewers 2B Jonathan Villar was out of the starting lineup Tuesday against the Giants as manager Craig Counsell went with hot-hitting Eric Sogard, instead. Villar has struggled from the onset of the season, batting just .207 while striking out 73 times in 56 games. ... LF Austin Slater got the start in left field for the Giants on Tuesday, the third of his major league career. He is the 12th player used in left by manager Bruce Bochy this season. ... The Giants have won 14 of their last 17 meetings with Milwaukee, outscoring the Brewers 109-46 in those contests.
