San Francisco Giants beat Milwaukee Brewers & get series in 2-1 victory

Nothing like heading off to see the president at the White House, not to mention the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, while playing baseball as if you're worthy of such high-level summit meetings.

The Giants set the stage for a celebratory day in Washington before their big showdown with Philadelphia by suffocating the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 on Sunday behind Madison Bumgarner and another lights-out bullpen performance at AT&T Park.

"All the games are important, but taking this series just before you go on the road to play the best team in baseball record-wise is big," said closer Brian Wilson, who pitched his second consecutive 1-2-3 ninth to preserve the victory. "Now it'll be nice to spend the day off in D.C. and meet the leader of the free world, then go into Philly feeling pretty good about ourselves and our chances."

The Giants have won 11 of 15, and their two victories over the Brewers were particularly impressive, thanks mostly to the Giants' pitching.

Bumgarner (6-9) was superb, scattering eight hits, not walking a batter and striking out eight.

Only one hit hurt him -- Ryan Braun's solo home run in the first -- and Bumgarner was only at 93 pitches when manager Bruce Bochy removed the left hander in the eighth with two out and a runner on first.

With a bullpen that has posted a 0.29 ERA since the All-Star break, Bochy had a pretty easy call to bring in Sergio Romo to face Braun, whom Romo retired on a comebacker. Then Wilson finished things for his 31st save.

"I didn't want (Bumgarner) to make a mistake that late in the game," Bochy said. "Braun was coming up for a fourth time against him, and he'd already hit a home run.

"He (Bumgarner) did his job. When you have great setup guys, it's hard not to bring them in. He probably could have finished, but I had those guys ready to go."

Bumgarner didn't have any problem with the move.

"I don't think any starter wants to come out of the game, but when you do, it's nice to know you have our guys coming in behind you," he said. "They pretty much get you out of it every time, and I'm comfortable handing the ball to them at any time."

To be sure, Bochy has no problem of late in handing the ball to Bumgarner every fifth day. The Giants have won the past six times the 21-year-old has started, and even though Bumgarner has only three wins personally during that stretch, he has been very consistent and exceedingly sharp.

Sunday marked the 19th consecutive start Bumgarner has made in which he has walked two or fewer, the longest such streak by a Giant since Juan Marichal in 1970-71. But Bumgarner has been even more pinpoint of late. He has pitched 23 innings since he last issued a walk and has not walked more than one batter in a game since May 30.

"That's one reason he's up here at a young age," Bochy said. "He's obviously very talented, but he throws strikes."

He can hit a little, too. Bumgarner ignited one of the Giants' single-run rallies in the third inning with a ringing double off Milwaukee starter Yovani Gallardo (11-7). Bumgarner then legged it around to score on Jeff Keppinger's two-out single to left, third-base coach Tim Flannery running with him halfway to home plate and barking at him to get on his horse.

"He was right there beside me," Bumgarner said with a grin. "I heard him yelling the whole time."

The Giants then took the lead in the fourth on a rally punctuated by Mike Fontenot's sacrifice fly. It was close the rest of the way, but Bumgarner thinks that is always a benefit to the Giants.

"All these clutch games keeps everybody playing with a high intensity level," he said. "It's been helping us throughout the year, and I think it's going to help us the rest of the year."