MILWAUKEE (AP) — Freddy Peralta pitched six effective innings and William Contreras hit a tiebreaking homer that sent the Milwaukee Brewers past the Cleveland Guardians 2-1 on Saturday night for their fourth straight victory.
Gary Sánchez had an early RBI double and Milwaukee maintained its 10-game lead in the NL Central, the largest of any division leader.
Cleveland’s advantage in the AL Central was sliced to two games over surging Minnesota, which beat Texas 5-2.
Josh Naylor launched his 27th homer for the Guardians, held to four runs in two losses at Milwaukee to begin their three-game interleague series this weekend.
Peralta (8-7) allowed four hits and two walks while striking out three. The right-hander had just one win in his previous seven starts and had permitted four or more runs in three of his past four outings.
Naylor’s homer tied it 1-all with two outs in the fourth. In the bottom half, Contreras sent a 1-2 changeup from Tanner Bibee to left field for his 17th homer of the season.
It was the only earned run allowed by Bibee (10-5), who held the Brewers to three hits and a walk while striking out seven over five innings.
Milwaukee’s bullpen made the narrow lead hold up. Joel Payamps delivered a scoreless seventh, Jared Koenig struck out the side in the eighth and Devin Williams needed only 10 pitches to earn his fourth save in four chances since coming off the injured list last month.
Brice Turamg walked and scored on Sánchez’s double in the first after an errant pickoff attempt by Bibee.
