Defense shines, but offense falls flat in 5-0 loss to Arizona

Turang flashes his glove but Brewers drop third straight to Arizona

Box Score

The Milwaukee Brewers lost another close game to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night. The 5-0 loss saw the Brewers fall into an early deficit and never generate much momentum to climb out of the hole.

Aaron Civale was on the mound and the Diamondbacks jumped him from nearly the first pitch. He retired the first batter in two pitches, but five pitches later, he had surrendered two runs. The Diamondbacks’ star second baseman Ketel Marte hit a single with Joc Pederson following with a two-run home run.

It was a strange outing for Civale. He gave up those two early runs, but then blanked Arizona until the fifth inning. It wasn’t because he was particularly dominant, though. Civale only registered one swing-and-miss all night with the Diamondbacks constantly working deep counts. Civale was clearly irritated at times, and manager Pat Murphy was also irritated and earned an ejection over close strike zone calls.

In the fifth inning, catcher Jose Herrera hit a home run against Civale to give the Diamondbacks a 3-0 lead. The Brewers’ starter allowed two subsequent walks, being forced from the game after just 4 ¹⁄₃ innings and three earned runs.

Hoby Milner came in for relief and played a key role in what was a mostly clean night for the bullpen. He earned two quick outs to end the inning.

While the relievers kept the Diamondbacks off the board through the middle of the game, they wouldn’t have done it without the special Milwaukee defense behind them. In the sixth inning, shortstop Willy Adames made a behind-the-back grab on a floating ball in the shallow outfield.

In the eighth inning, it was Brice Turang once again flashing his Gold Glove talents. Joe Ross was on the mound and allowed two singles. The second single seemed certain to leak to the outfield, giving the lead runner a chance to advance to third. But Turang sprinted over from a shifted position to keep the ball from getting to the outfield, holding the runner on second.

The next play was one of the best moments of the night, a diving stop for Turang to end the inning. By the time he gloved the ball, he was already in the outfield and had to quickly regain his footing to throw to first for the out.

The Diamondbacks added two insurance runs in the ninth inning off Ross to extend the score to 5-0. Ketel Marte connected on a fastball to ultimately put the game out of reach.

While the Brewers’ defense did its thing, the offense struggled to kick the engine into gear. Milwaukee registered its first hits in the third inning with Joey Ortiz and Sal Frelick hitting back-to-back singles.

Eric Haase even went for a sacrifice bunt, but the ball squirted just far enough past the mound for pitcher Merrill Kelly to toss the ball to third base. Turang then grounded into a double play, although it was close enough to initially be ruled safe before being overruled on replay.

The Brewers didn’t manage another hit. It’s just one week, and certainly not an incriminating stat given the recent lineup shifts, but Milwaukee is now 2-5 in its last seven games. They have failed to score more than two runs in four of the last five. They still have one more opportunity to prove their mettle against this potential playoff foe tomorrow.

The Brewers will play the series finale tomorrow at 1:10 p.m. before receiving a day off. Frankie Montas will be starting against Arizona’s Jordan Montgomery.