MILWAUKEE (AP) -- As the months of torturous rehab stretched into years and Jeff D'Amico's major league dreams began to fuzz with age, he fought to stay focused on a night like this one.

D'Amico made a remarkable return to County Stadium, allowing four hits over seven shutout innings as the Milwaukee Brewers beat San Francisco 7-0 Saturday night, the Giants' eighth straight loss.

After missing all but one inning of the last two seasons with shoulder problems that threatened to end a promising career, D'Amico (2-1) has allowed one earned run in three starts this year for an 0.43 ERA. It was his first start in Milwaukee since Sept. 27, 1997.

"This is about as good as it gets for me," D'Amico said with a smile. "I'm throwing the ball pretty good right now. Hopefully I can keep this going."

Jose Hernandez's grand slam capped a six-run first inning for the Brewers, who won their third straight while sending spiraling San Francisco to yet another loss. The Giants managed just four singles against D'Amico.

"He's been very frugal the first three times he's gone out there," Milwaukee manager Davey Lopes said. "He's done an excellent job. He knows how to pitch, he has excellent command. He's low-key and composed, yet he's got that drive inside him."

The Giants, shut out for the first time this season, need to win the series finale Sunday to avoid an 0-9 road trip. San Francisco, swept by Colorado and Atlanta earlier, has fallen from second place to fourth in the NL West during the slide and has dropped eight games behind division-leading Arizona.

"We're lucky to be only eight games out," San Francisco manager Dusty Baker said. "It hasn't been a pleasant trip, (but) this is the only game we didn't really have a chance in."

Six of the Brewers' first seven hitters reached base against Mark Gardner (2-2). The rally began with third baseman Bill Mueller's two-base throwing error on Ron Belliard's grounder, which was followed by consecutive run-scoring doubles down the right-field line by Mark Loretta and Jeromy Burnitz.

After Charlie Hayes singled and Marquis Grissom walked, Hernandez -- 0-for-10 previously in his career against Gardner -- hit a shot that barely cleared the right-field fence for his fourth homer. Hernandez's only other grand slam in the majors came Aug. 31, 1995.

"When he hit it, I thought it was going to be a sac fly," Gardner said. "It just kept going. I didn't think he hit it that good."

Belliard added a 410-foot solo homer to deepest center in the second inning for the Brewers, who appear to have shaken their early-season offensive woes. They scored 11 runs against San Francisco on Friday.

D'Amico struck out three and gave up just one walk while throwing 72 of his 113 pitches for strikes.

He allowed just two runners to reach second base and retired nine of his last 10 batters. After being called up from Triple-A Indianapolis on May 9, he allowed just one earned run in 14 innings of two road starts.

"We only had three guys who had ever even seen (D'Amico)," Baker said. "He did a nice job with his pitches, and he had some different things going tonight."

At least one player saw it differently for the Giants, who sat and ate in near-silence in their clubhouse after the game.

"We couldn't have asked for better pitches to hit," said Barry Bonds, who grounded out three times and struck out in his second game after missing four with a back injury.

"That guy threw balls right down the middle, hanging curveballs. We had every opportunity to get back in the game, and we didn't."

Gardner allowed just one hit after Belliard's homer and retired his last 10 hitters before being lifted in the eighth. The Giants staff has allowed 60 earned runs during the losing streak.

"I don't think it can get any worse than today or yesterday," Gardner said. "Still, you've got to give all credit to that kid across the way. He threw a gem."

Game notes
Milwaukee will play six home games in the next five days while making up for rainouts. ... Hernandez's grand slam was Milwaukee's second of the season. Henry Blanco had one May 12. ... In the third inning, Burnitz made a nifty running catch of Doug Mirabelli's foul ball just one step from the stands. ... Milwaukee's previous two games -- a 16-inning outing Tuesday against Houston and Friday night's 10-inning game with the Giants -- lasted exactly 10 combined hours. Saturday's game clocked finished in a tidy 2:30.