SAN FRANCISCO -- Having just won a seventh consecutive game for the first time in his career on Tuesday night, San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner was asked if he was more comfortable on the mound or at the plate.

He didn't know what to say.

That in and of itself said a mouthful about the approach he's taking with the bat these days.

Bumgarner singled, walked twice and forced the Milwaukee Brewers into two pitching miscues that led directly to the Giants' 3-2 victory.

"We caught a break," Bumgarner said after two wild pitches while he was batting in the seventh inning allowed Angel Pagan to score what turned out to be the difference-making run. "That was the game for us."

Left-handed reliever Will Smith threw the pitches that led to Milwaukee's fourth loss in five games against the Giants this season and seventh in nine dating to last season.

"Will just overcooked a couple of breaking balls," said Brewers manager Craig Counsell, not questioning the fact that Smith was throwing breaking balls to a pitcher in the first place.

Milwaukee's second straight loss at the start of its nine-game trip came on a night when right-hander Matt Garza made his season debut.

Finally fully recovered from a strained right lat suffered late in spring training, Garza pitched four innings and did not get a decision. He hadn't pitched in a major league game since Sept. 5 at Cincinnati.

He was pulled after having thrown 87 pitches in four laborious innings. He held the Giants to one run despite giving up eight hits and a walk. He struck out five.

"That's a tough lineup over there," he said. "Their two-strike approach was amazing. I call them king of the dead-ball hits. They find a hole with two strikes and tap it through. It's a great approach and they are very successful at it."

Bumgarner (8-2) surrendered a solo home run to Jonathan Lucroy, his 10th homer of the season, in the fifth inning and an RBI single to Hernan Perez in the sixth but only two other hits, a walk and a hit batter in facing just three men above the minimum in eight innings.

Santiago Casilla struck out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth for his 14th save of the season.

Bumgarner, who struck out eight, has not lost since April 20, a stretch of 10 starts. The Giants are 10-0 in those games.

The left-hander's seven straight wins are the most for a Giants pitcher since Barry Zito accomplished the feat during the 2012 season.

"It's really fun to watch a really good, elite pitcher do his thing," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "What's really amazing is the little things. He picks off a runner, and he helps himself with the bat."

In Tuesday's case, he helped himself simply by standing in the batter's box with a bat in the tiebreaking seventh inning.

After Smith (1-1), the Brewers' fourth pitcher, struck out Brandon Crawford to open the seventh, Pagan and Gregor Blanco delivered consecutive singles, putting runners on first and second.

With Bumgarner batting, Smith then uncorked two consecutive wild pitches on curveballs in the dirt, the second of which plated Pagan to give the Giants a 3-2 lead.

"It just shows you how much respect he gets as a hitter," Bochy said of the .167 hitter who is one of just two pitchers to have two home runs this season. "He's getting 3-2 breaking balls ...

"You look up there at the numbers, it doesn't make sense. But they know he has power."

Bumgarner was asked if he, as a pitcher, would throw breaking balls to Bumgarner the hitter.

"There's no good answer," he said after a long deliberation.

Bumgarner eventually walked in the seventh, putting runners at the corners with one out. But then, befitting a night of blown chances, the Giants stranded Blanco at third when Denard Span lined into a double play.

The Giants, who had 12 hits, stranded 13 runners, including three at second base and four at third.

"They had a lot of traffic the whole game," Counsell said. "If you really look at it, to give up only three runs, we were probably fortunate."

Buster Posey had four hits, all singles, for the Giants, who had only two extra-base hits -- a double by Brandon Belt in the first and a double by Blanco in the second.

Belt left the game in the eighth after getting hit by a pitch just above the right ankle. X-rays taken after the game were negative, but the Giants issued him a walker, an indication he's very questionable for Wednesday's series finale and perhaps going forward.

Blanco and Joe Panik had two hits apiece for the Giants (40-26), who have now won four in a row overall and 10 of 12 at home. They improved to 14 games above .500 for the first time this season.

Jonathan Villar had a double and a single for the Brewers (30-35), who fell to 11-18 on the road.

Batting in the bottom of the fifth after Lucroy's homer off Bumgarner had tied the game in the top of the inning, the Giants regained a 2-1 advantage but failed to break the game open when they had the opportunity.

Right-hander Corey Knebel, on in relief of Garza, faced three batters and didn't get any of them out, allowing Posey's third hit of the game and subsequent full-count walks to Matt Duffy and Brandon Crawford.

Right-hander Carlos Torres inherited the bases loaded and kept the damage to a minimum. He induced Pagan to ground out, scoring Posey, before retiring Blanco and Bumgarner to limit the Giants to one run.

Crawford drove in San Francisco's earlier run, the game's first, with a two-out single in the third inning, scoring Panik.

NOTES: Giants LHP Madison Bumgarner has limited 11 consecutive opponents to two runs or fewer. The last Giant to have a streak of that length was RHP Juan Marichal bridging the 1965 and '66 seasons. ... 1B Brandon Belt has reached base safely in each of the Giants' last 25 home games. ... Giants RHP Matt Cain, who was reinstated from the 15-day disabled list to start Monday's 11-5 win over the Brewers, was put back on the DL on Tuesday. The injury is a recurrence of his strained right hamstring. ... RHP Chris Stratton was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to take Cain's spot on the roster. .... Giants LF Mac Williamson was demoted to Triple-A to create a roster opening for LF Angel Pagan. ... Brewers LHP Chris Capuano (sore elbow) threw a 45-pitch bullpen session before the game. He is scheduled to face live hitters in a simulated game during the Brewers' visit to Los Angeles later this week.