MILWAUKEE -- Thirteen days, thirteen games … nine victories.

The Giants wrapped up one of their longest road trips of the season with a 5-4 victory over the Brewers on Sunday afternoon, clinching yet another series victory, and while they managed to avoid extra-innings for the first time in three games, it was still another grind-it-out kind of afternoon for the National League leaders.

"It was one of the more challenging series of the year," said manager Gabe Kapler of his team's three games against the NL Central-leading Brewers. "In many ways, especially this last game, we were running on fumes and our bullpen was definitely running on fumes."

Kapler went into the day hoping to avoid using his bullpen as much as possible, especially after using nine relief pitchers to cover an 11-inning effort on Saturday that saw four pitchers -- Jarlin García, Dominic Leone, Taylor Rogers and closer Jake McGee -- see action for a third consecutive game.

He was able to accomplish that, for the most part, thanks to a strong effort from starter Johnny Cueto, who allowed four runs on five hits and a walk but went 5 1/3 innings before turning things over to José Álvarez.

Álvarez gave up a run on a wild pitch but allowed no further damage. Tony Watson followed with a scoreless seventh then handed the ball to Zack Littell, who allowed just one baserunner while working the final two innings in a performance that allowed the back end of San Francisco's bullpen to finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"It was nothing short of excellent," Kapler said. "It's not easy to take the mound for two innings in that situation against a lineup like that on the road."

Inheriting a one-run lead thanks to Brandon Belt's game-tying two-run homer and Tommy La Stella's pinch-hit RBI single that put San Francisco ahead in the top of the eighth, Littell put the tying run on when he walked leadoff batter Eduardo Escobar.

Littell followed by striking out Omar Narváez, who homered earlier in the day to tie the game at 1, then got Rowdy Tellez on a fly ball to center field -- and, caught a bit of a lucky break when Escobar did not re-tag second base as he made his way back to first and, as a result, was called out for running out of the baseline, ending the inning.

"I didn't notice it but just an incredibly high IQ play by Tommy to be paying attention to him not going back to the base," Littell said. "That was huge. It took the air out of the place."

Littell needed just four pitches to get through the ninth.

"My goal today was to go out there and make sure they didn't have to go into the game," said Littell of his fellow relievers. "I think that was the least we could do, giving them a night off."

Though they avoided playing extra innings for the first time since Wednesday, the Giants did have to dig out of yet another deficit Sunday.

Darin Ruf put them ahead early with a first-inning home run but Milwaukee pulled ahead with two in the fourth on Narváez's 10th home run of the season. Kolten Wong made it a 3-1 game with an RBI single in the fifth and after Brandon Crawford's sac fly in the sixth got the Giants back within a run, Álvarez's wild pitch made it a 4-2 game.

Belt wiped out that deficit in the seventh, when he came off the bench to homer for the fourth time in three games.

Since returning from a month-long stint on the IL ahead of San Francisco's game Thursday at Arizona, Belt is 5-for-13 with four home runs and seven RBIs.

"It always feels good to produce," Belt said. "But it definitely feels good to get back out there and not have a lot of downtime, where I have to adjust. I've been able to step in and help the team win right away."