MILWAUKEE — During the seventh inning stretch at Miller Park, the crowd sings one chorus of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and two choruses of the “Beer Barrel Polka.”
The Giants might be wailing another tune: “We Gotta Get Outta This Place.”

In what seemed like a playoff-charged environment Saturday night, the Giants saw Pablo Sandoval hit two home runs and nearly club a third. They saw Barry Zito exorcize his bad mojo by shutting down the Milwaukee Brewers through five innings. They saw their offense rally for a two-run ninth against Trevor Hoffman, a future Hall of Famer.
Yet for all those encouraging sights, there wasn’t a sound to be heard in the visiting clubhouse after a 7-6 loss to a relentless opponent at Miller Park.
Brian Wilson allowed three runs in the ninth to blow his first save opportunity since May 21. Prince Fielder, whose three-run homer off Zito awoke the Brewers in the sixth inning, lined the winning double down the right field line as Wilson walked off the field.
A sellout crowd roared and Fielder shadowboxed with gleeful teammates after he hoisted the Brewers into the NL wild card lead, a half-game ahead of the Giants.
Wilson had converted 11 consecutive saves and hadn’t allowed a run in his previous 13 appearances.
But there’s something in the kegs at Miller Park. The Giants have lost 16 of their last 19 games here, including six consecutive, to a monstrous Brewers lineup that has never seems to roll over for the third out.
“You’ve got to tip your hat to them,” Giants center fielder Aaron Rowand said. “They scored three runs against one of the best in the game. It’s a tough loss ... but you don’t want to take it into tomorrow.”
The Giants had 14 hits against spot starter Seth McClung and four relievers;
Sandoval hit solo shots in the third and fifth to grab the team lead with 11. The Giants also stranded 11 runners, though.
“It goes to show you,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. “When you get a chance to put a dagger in, you’ve got to do it.”
Still, they led 4-0 and Zito, who entered with a 10.05 ERA in three career starts at Miller Park, was a pitch away from keeping the shutout intact through six.
Instead, the Giants’ lead evaporated in the span of two pitches — Zito’s last and Brandon Medders’ first. Fielder crushed an inside fastball to make it a one-run game. And Medders couldn’t sneak a get-ahead fastball past Casey McGehee.
“Yeah, I was a little gassed out there,” said Zito, who was forced to run the bases in the sixth when Juan Uribe made a critical mistake and got tagged out on the pitcher’s ground ball. “I was having a tough time getting extension. It’s that last little bit that makes your pitches move late.”
Jeremy Affeldt’s heroic performance was wasted, too. He coaxed a double-play grounder from Mike Cameron with the bases loaded in the eighth to bail out Sergio Romo.
In the seventh, Cameron reached over the center field fence to rob Nate Schierholtz of a tiebreaking home run. But the Giants greeted Hoffman with three consecutive singles in the ninth, moving ahead on a pair of sacrifice flies.
Wilson couldn’t hold it. He gave up an infield hit to Craig Counsell, walked pinch hitter Mat Gamel and allowed consecutive run-scoring singles to Corey Hart and J.J. Hardy.
Wilson had been ahead 0-2 on Hart, whose line drive snapped an 0-for-19 streak. And Hardy’s one-hop bullet up the middle deflected off Uribe’s glove.
Wilson struck out Ryan Braun for the second out, but he put a slider into Fielder’s happy zone.
“They battled and hit good pitches,” Wilson said. “Not one game is worth more than any other to me. It’s the same no matter what the price. It’s always bitter to swallow.”