Cirillo’s Homer Does In Giants

Jeff Cirillo hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and that’s all the Milwaukee Brewers needed as they defeated the San Francisco Giants, 3-1, on Saturday for their third victory in a row.

Brewer starter Paul Wagner (1-1) gave up one run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings, and relievers Mike Myers, Chad Fox and Bob Wickman protected the lead into the ninth for Doug Jones, who picked up his sixth save.

Giant starter Orel Hershiser (0-1) gave up two earned runs and five hits in six innings. When he was with Cleveland last season, Hershiser was 3-0 in four starts against Milwaukee.

Hershiser is still looking for his first National League victory since Aug. 7, 1994, when he was with the Dodgers.

Fernando Vina led off the first with a single and Cirillo hit his second homer.

Of Cirillo’s homer, Hershiser said, “That was the ballgame there because I came back and settled down.

“I didn’t consider the pitch a mistake. I threw a good slider on the outer half and he happened to get it. Early in the game, you just limit the damage and you just keep going.”

Cirillo said it’s critical to get to Hershiser early.

“He’s a rhythm guy. He’s always pitched tough against us, no matter if he’s won or lost,” he said. “We’ll get a couple runs off him, maybe two or three, but we never seem to get him out of there. He’s always around and I think he usually beats us.”

The Giants scored in the fourth when Jeff Kent opened with a ground-rule double and came around on successive groundouts by J.T. Snow and Stan Javier.

Milwaukee added an unearned run in the fifth, thanks to two errors on one play.

“We made some errors in that one inning and we were lucky to come out with only one run,” Giant Manager Dusty Baker said.

“We hit some balls hard, we just couldn’t find any holes today. We hit the ball extremely hard.”

NEXT SERIES FOR DODGERS

WHO: Milwaukee Brewers

WHERE: at Milwaukee

WHEN: Tuesday, 4 p.m.

Wednesday, 4 p.m.

Thursday, 11 a.m.