Shaun Marcum helps Milwaukee Brewers defeat San Francisco Giants 4-2 – MLB Update
The Milwaukee Brewers, helped by starter Shaun Marcum, were able to hold on to their initial lead and defeat the San Francisco Giants 4-2 at AT&T Park in San Francisco on Friday, July 22.
Shaun Marcum was outstanding at the mound as he ended up giving just two runs in the seven innings that he pitched. He improved his strike-out tally for the season to 110 after bagging five in this game. One of the two runs was a home-run effort which came
late in the sixth inning but could not really alter the flow of the game.
Marcum threw 90 pitches and managed 62 strikes with just four hits being conceded in the process. His exemplary performance was enough to in him his ninth game of the season, taking his win-loss record to 9-3.
The San Francisco Giants made a solid start with an early run in the bottom of first inning. Pablo Sandoval’s RBI helped Andres Torres to complete his run and register a one-run advantage for the Giants.
The Brewers have had a good season thus far and have been in strong competition for the top notch in the National League Central Division with the Pittsburgh Pirates. They finally managed to grab the leader’s position when they outclassed the Giants with
their strong reply in the second inning.
The three-run second inning was enough to see the Brewers through. National League All-Star home-run derby captain Prince Fielder opened the scoring for the Brewers to eradicate the lead and level the score 1-1. Casey McGehee and Yuniesky Betancourt added
then added a run each to take the score to 3-1 and put pressure on the Giants with a two-run lead.
The third, fourth and fifth innings saw some fierce pitching from either side. The silence then broke in the sixth inning when Rickie Weeks added another run for Milwaukee to take a decisive three-run lead against a strong opposition in the sixth inning.
All four runs for the Brewers came off Matt Cain’s pitching. Cain has been excellent for the Giants this season but an early assault by the Brewers shred his confidence. Before this game, Cain had a win-loss record of 8-5 but eight hits and four runs in
six innings of ordinary pitching handed Cain his sixth loss of the season.
Cain was replaced after the sixth inning and all three relievers did not concede a single hit or a run but this replacement came an inning too late.
In the bottom of sixth inning, the Giants did attempt to respond to the Brewers but the bull-pen had been traumatised by Marcum’s pitching. Aaron Rowand smashed a home-run for the Giants but did not get any support from other batters and was successful in
only reducing the deficit to two-runs.
Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford successfully halted the Giants in the last two vital innings and safely saw the Brewers home.
The win brings Milwaukee to the top of the NL Central with a one-game lead over the Pirates. They also lead the three-game series 1-0 with the second game scheduled for Saturday, July 23.
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