Giants begin brutal closing stretch against Central-leading Brewers

San Francisco, which dropped to .500 Sunday, came out of the weekend five games behind Atlanta for the final NL wild-card spot. The Giants are 17-11 since July 26, but they’ll play 27 of their final 30 games against teams who entered Monday .500 or better.

That includes Milwaukee, which went into its off day 10 games in front of second-place St. Louis in the National League Central, the largest lead of any division leader.

In six of their last seven losses, the Brewers have scored three runs or fewer. Milwaukee is 57-17 when scoring four runs or more, 18-38 scoring three or fewer.

“The story was, obviously, that they stopped us offensively,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said following Sunday’s loss. “We had one at-bat with a guy in scoring position.”

Myers is 1-2 over his last seven starts, despite a 1.83 ERA, and he has not won since July 10. He has a 2.00 ERA in his last 13 starts.

In his most recent outing, Myers allowed two runs on six hits in four innings, but did not factor in the decision in a 10-6 loss at St. Louis in 10 innings. He has kept the ball in the park in August, allowing just one homer in 22 innings over his last four starts.

The Brewers’ bullpen received a boost Sunday when left-hander Aaron Ashby was recalled from Triple-A Nashville to replace Nick Mears, who went on the injured list with a right forearm strain. Ashby missed all of 2023 recovering from shoulder surgery.

Ashby was inconsistent at Nashville, but was scoreless over his last five relief outings. Ashby, who was 2-10 with a 4.44 ERA in 27 games (19 starts) with Milwaukee in 2022, tossed two scoreless innings Sunday, his third appearance of 2024.

Webb is 3-0 with a 1.27 ERA in four starts in August and has been even more stingy in the long-ball department, not allowing a homer in 28 1/3 innings this month. He did not get the decision his last time out, allowing two runs on five hits over eight innings in a 6-2 loss to the White Sox.