MILWAUKEE ¨C Midseason pick-up Aaron Civale cleared seven innings for the first time this season and didn¡¯t allow a run. Rookie Jackson Chourio did more two-out hitting. Left-hander Aaron Ashby, finally healthy again, hit 99 mph on the stadium radar gun. William Contreras even stole home for the first time in his professional career.

As September nears, the Brewers have been playing like the team they hope to be in October.

In Thursday¡¯s 6-0 victory over the Giants at American Family Field, Civale allowed only two hits in his first seven-inning start since last July, when he was still pitching in Cleveland. Chourio delivered a two-run double while boosting his August OPS to .865 and Contreras helped the Brewers steal a run with aggressive baserunning in a victory that boosted the Brewers to 5-1-1 in their last seven series and pushed them back to their season high at 21 games over .500.

¡°We¡¯re playing hard. We don¡¯t see anybody tired,¡± Contreras said. ¡°We¡¯re focused and everybody knows what position we are in.¡±

With each passing day, the National League Central standings ¨C Milwaukee added a half-game on the idle Cubs and lead the division by 9 1/2 games with 29 to go ¨C are taking a backseat to the overall NL standings. At 77-56, the Brewers pulled within one game of the Phillies for the league¡¯s second-best record, pending Philadelphia¡¯s home game against the Braves on Thursday night.

The top two division winners in each league earn a first-round bye in the postseason, but that¡¯s still a long way away.

¡°As soon as you think, ¡®Ah, I don¡¯t know about this club. Who¡¯s this guy? They don¡¯t have enough of this, they don¡¯t have enough of that,¡¯¡± said Brewers manager Pat Murphy, letting that thought trail off. ¡°Well, they¡¯ve got enough of something. They keep posting. They keep competing.

¡°It doesn¡¯t always add up, but I love what they¡¯re doing. I love how they¡¯re competing. They¡¯re keeping it in the moment. They¡¯re keeping it pitch to pitch.¡±

One moment that changed Thursday¡¯s series finale came in the second inning, when the Brewers sought to steal a run with Contreras at third base and Willy Adames breaking from first. The Giants caught Adames in a rundown and Contreras, as planned, eventually broke from home. In the process of throwing the baseball around the diamond, Giants third baseman Matt Chapman bobbled it. Contreras scored for a 3-0 lead.

¡°This is a team that runs the bases well and they put pressure on you, and sometimes when you continually put pressure on the defense, things like that are going to happen,¡± Chapman said. ¡°That¡¯s a tough play. Both of those guys were in no man¡¯s land a little bit.¡±

That was plenty of support for Civale, who navigated his best start as a Brewer despite it being his first pairing with catcher Gary S¨¢nchez ¨C ¡°He made it super easy,¡± Civale said ¨C and Ashby, whose early returns as a reliever have been stellar, giving him a chance to be this year¡¯s version of 2018 call-up Corbin Burnes.

Ashby so impressed the Brewers when he first came up to the Majors in 2021 that they signed him to a four-year extension the following July, only to see him go down with a shoulder injury. It eventually required surgery and a rehab so long and grueling that when Murphy saw Ashby throwing this spring, he wondered to himself, ¡°God, is that a fantasy camp kid?¡±

Flash forward to Thursday, when the 26-year-old, who moved to the bullpen in the weeks preceding his promotion from Triple-A Nashville to the big leagues, completed a two-hit shutout with a slew of 98 mph sinkers and a nasty changeup at 90 mph.

¡°It¡¯s been a grind getting back to where I¡¯m at now, and I¡¯m honestly just thankful,¡± Ashby said. ¡°There have been some highs and lows over the last year and a half-plus, and it feels good to go out there and help the team win.¡±

Is he enjoying his foray into late-inning relief enough to see a future in that role?

¡°Honestly, I haven¡¯t gotten that far yet,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s whatever I can do to help the team win right now. If that¡¯s in the bullpen, it¡¯s in the bullpen. If it¡¯s starting, it¡¯s starting. I think this organization has done a great job building pitchers up to just get outs and be as efficient as possible. That¡¯s what we¡¯re going to continue to do.¡±