Willy Adames held his helmet above his head as he stood near home plate and acknowledged the ovation he was given by Milwaukee Brewers fans at American Family Field. He then gave Brewers catcher and former teammate William Contreras a hug and nodded in the direction of starting pitcher Jose Quintana.

Adames then took the first pitch he saw from Quintana and launched it 419 feet over the left field wall, and as he rounded the bases, he heard some boos from those fans who cheered his return to Wisconsin just moments earlier.

Adames homered twice in his return to Milwaukee on Friday, with his second homer in the eighth inning starting a comeback that saw the Giants tie the game in the top of the ninth. But Contreras got the last laugh, as he homered off Randy Rodriguez with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to hand the Giants a 5-4 loss.

Rodriguez hung a slider that Contreras hit over the left-center field wall for the dramatic walk-off win.

San Francisco is now a season-low seven games below .500 as it continues its series with the Brewers on Saturday and Sunday.

Luis Matos also homered in the second inning, and Adames’ second homer came in the eighth to cut the Brewers’ lead to 4-3. Then in the top of the ninth with runners on first and third, Brewers closer Trevor Megill uncorked a wild pitch that bounced off Contreras’ chest protector and well away from the plate, allowing Matos, who doubled to lead off the ninth, to score.

With the game tied 2-2 in the seventh, Contreras doubled to right off reliever Joey Lucchesi to score Andruw Monasterio. Then, with the bases loaded and one out, former Cal star Andrew Vaughn sent a high grounder to first base off Ryan Walker, scoring Brice Turang from third.

Rafael Devers could not cleanly handle the grounder from Vaughn, but even if he had, he might not have been able to get Turang at the plate.

Adames, who also received a video tribute before the game, played with the Brewers from 2021 to 2024 as he established himself as one of the National League’s premier hitting shortstops. In 548 games over four seasons in Milwaukee, Adames had 107 home runs and 348 RBI, with a .780 OPS. With Adames, the Brewers made the playoffs three out of four seasons.

Adames wore a yellow sleeve on his right arm, and the tops of his cleats were also yellow.

“It’s emotional,” Adames told reporters of his return before Friday’s game. “Obviously, I have a lot of great memories here.”

Adames’ first games back in Milwaukee coincide with Sunday’s Celebration of Life at the park for former longtime play-by-play announcer Bob Uecker,  who died in January at the age of 90 after a long battle with cancer. Uecker, one of baseball’s most prominent personalities, was the voice of the Brewers for 54 seasons.

“Being here this special weekend means even more,” Adames said. “But it feels the same, it feels like I never left.”

While the Giants have been in a free fall for most of the last two months, the Brewers, in their second year under manager Pat Murphy, have surged to the top of the National League standings. Entering Friday, Milwaukee had a record of 34-8 since the All-Star break, which included a 14-game winning streak from Aug. 1-16.

“Obviously happy for them, the way that they’ve been playing baseball this year,” Adames said. “I’m really happy for the guys in there, and we’ll see how that goes this weekend.”

The Brewers were no doubt going to test Giants starter Carson Whisenhunt, who had just been recalled from Triple-A Sacramento, as he took the roster spot of injured starter Landen Roupp. Since May 18, Milwaukee led the big leagues in runs per game (5.66) and average with runners in scoring position (.309), and was second in OPS (.781). In that time, the Brewers had a record of 59-23.

The Brewers, who are ninth in the big leagues in fielding percentage (.987), also made several sterling plays on defense.

Whisenhunt looked OK in the first three innings before he struggled in the fourth, allowing an RBI double to Sal Frelich to cut the Giants’ lead to 2-1. Later, with one out, Vaughn scored from third base on a Whisenhunt wild pitch.

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But Bailey chased down the ball, and with Whisenhunt failing to cover home plate, fired a strike to third baseman Casey Schmitt to get Frelich, who took a few steps past the bag. Whisenhunt got Brandon Lockridge to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the inning, but his night was over after four innings and 88 pitches. He got a no-decision in his fourth start of the season for the Giants.

With the game tied 2-2 in the top of the sixth inning, the Giants loaded the bases with two outs. On a 2-1 count, Jung Hoo Lee fouled off a 94 mph fastball from Shelby Miller that caught too much of the plate, and struck out on the next pitch as he chased an 86 mph splitter that dipped well below the strike zone.

Matos led off the seventh inning with a walk and was later able to steal second base. The throw to second by Contreras sailed into centerfield, and Matos, who didn’t immediately see the ball, got a late jump toward third. The throw to third by Lockridge was on target, and Matos was called out.

The Giants left five runners on base for the game.