Diamondbacks outlast Brewers 7-4

Contreras has big offensive night but Milwaukee can’t keep up with Arizona

Box Score

The Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks got together for the second of a four-game series in Milwaukee this evening, with Arizona ace Zac Gallen on the hill. He faced off against the Brewers’ Colin Rea, four days after he picked up his first career save with 2 ²⁄₃ innings out of the bullpen on Monday.

Arizona got ahead early, and aside from a quick flurry of offense that briefly tied the game, Milwaukee’s bats were kept quiet while Ketel Marte and the Diamondbacks kept the Brewers at arm’s length.

The Diamondbacks got out to an early lead in this one, when Marte, who will probably finish in the top five in National League MVP voting, hit a one-out homer just over the right-field wall (and Sal Frelick’s glove). Joc Pederson also had a first-inning single, but got a little antsy on a stolen base attempt, took off too early, and Rea calmly executed a rundown for the third out.

Gallen got to come out with a lead, but Brice Turang led off with a little single to left on an inside-out swing, and Jackson Chourio hit a hard ground ball through the right side on the first pitch he saw, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Gallen came back to get William Contreras and Garrett Mitchell to strike out (with both runners advancing on a double steal), but walked Willy Adames to load the bases for Rhys Hoskins. Hoskins hit a line drive but it wasn’t a terribly difficult play for third baseman Eugenio Suárez, and Gallen got out of the inning without allowing a run, though it took him 27 pitches to do so.

Gurriel Jr. reached base to start the second inning when he hit a ball straight into the dirt in front of home plate and it bounced to exactly the right spot. The next batter, Pavin Smith, worked a long at-bat before striking out on the ninth pitch he saw. Suárez reached out and dumped another weakly-hit single into left, and Gabriel Moreno fell behind 1-2 but walked to load the bases. That prompted a mound visit from Chris Hook, which didn’t have the desired effect, as Geraldo Perdomo dropped a single into right.

None of these hits were hit very hard, but it didn’t change the fact that Rea was in a rough spot with the top of the order coming up. Corbin Carroll hit the hardest ball of the inning but to the wrong spot, and it ended up a sac fly and an RBI to deep center field to make it 3-0; both runners advanced, but Rea struck out Marte (who was 4-for-4 with two homers in his career against Rea after his first-inning shot) to end the inning.

Now down three, the Brewers looked to get an answer in the bottom of the second inning, but they didn’t find one and went down in order. Rea got a needed 1-2-3 inning in the top of the third, but Gallen put up another zero in the bottom of the inning when he worked around a two-out Contreras single.

Both pitchers worked clean innings in the fourth. DL Hall replaced Rea in the top of the fifth. Perdomo started the inning with a single and Carroll hit a deep fly ball to left; Chourio made a great catch jumping up against the wall, but he rolled his ankle on the landing, and after a pause and a visit from the athletic trainer, Chourio stayed in the game. Mitchell had a brief word with Chourio afterwards which I presume was some form of “just cool it, buddy, we have more important games coming up.”

In any case, Marte followed with a double down the left field line that took a wicked bounce off the wall that enabled Perdomo to score from first. Hall got the next two, though, and an inning that could have been much worse (in a variety of ways) ended with just one run across. Arizona’s lead was now four.

Joey Ortiz finally got the Brewers on the board in the bottom of the fifth when he launched a one-out solo homer to left, and it wasn’t a cheapie, either.

Chourio, who was taken into the locker room between innings, did hit in the fifth, and he proved that ankle was okay by beating out a ground ball into the hole on the left side for an infield single. That brought Contreras to the plate with two outs, and he worked an 0-2 back full before blasting a home run to deep center field. Gallen’s next pitch was to Mitchell, who lined a blast into the Brewers’ bullpen. In a blink, the game was tied at four.

Unfortunately, the newly-tied game did not last long. On Hall’s third pitch of the sixth inning, Gurriel Jr. blasted his 18^th home run of the season to left. After a strikeout and two singles, Hall was removed in favor of Jared Koenig with runners on first and second and one out. Koenig walked Perdomo, and Carroll hit a weak ground ball that became an RBI fielder’s choice when Hoskins’ only option was to get Carroll at first. Koenig intentionally walked Marte, which loaded the bases, and then faced pinch hitter Randall Grichuk, who battled for a long time and walked on the ninth pitch he saw, extending Arizona’s lead to 7-4. Koenig did get Christian Walker swinging to end the inning but it was the furthest thing from a shutdown inning the Brewers could have gotten.

Kevin Ginkel was Gallen’s replacement in the sixth with Milwaukee looking to summon another answer. Hoskins led off the inning with a base knock, and Frelick chopped one to third, an awkward little ball that Suárez was unable to make a play on. That put two runners on for Sánchez, but he popped out to shallow left, and Ortiz grounded out to shortstop (though Arizona was unable to turn two). The Brewers’ speed gave Turang a chance with two outs, but he struck out and the Brewers were unable to capitalize on the inning’s positive start.

Joel Payamps pitched the seventh for Milwaukee, and he walked the leadoff hitter Gurriel Jr., but he got Smith to ground into a fielder’s choice, struck out Suárez, and got Moreno on a little tapper to third. Torey Luvello went with the fireballing Justin Martinez for the bottom of the seventh. He did allow a couple of hits—a 70-mph single to Contreras and a 105-mph single to Adames—but Hoskins struck out to end the inning.

Newly recalled Kevin Herget came in for the eighth, and he worked around a bunt single from Marte (that guy can do everything!) to put up a zero. Ryan Thompson was on for Arizona, and he gave up loud contact to pinch-hitter Jake Bauers but Jake McCarthy made a nice running catch in center field and the Brewers ended up going three up, three down.

Herget continued in the ninth and gave up a two-out double to Smith but put up another zero, giving him a nice scoreless outing for his first time pitching in the majors since June. A.J. Puk was on to close for the Diamondbacks; he struck out pinch-hitter Isaac Collins and Chourio to start the inning, but Contreras followed with another infield hit—his second infield hit and fourth hit of the game—to keep the Brewers alive. But Puk struck out Eric Haase, and the Diamondbacks won 7-4.

This was a briefly exciting game, but it ended in disappointment for the Brewers. Though they had that nice fifth-inning rally that tied the game, it really only felt like the Brewers were in it briefly, and while they had some traffic on the bases, they were unable to score outside of that inning. It was also a fairly disappointing outing for two potential starting pitcher candidates—Rea and Hall—and in general just a game to flush.

Contreras did have a big offensive day, as he was 4-for-5 with a homer and two RBI. Chourio had two hits and a run scored, and Mitchell and Ortiz both hit those solo homers. But there wasn’t enough offense tonight to make up for the subpar outings from Rea and Hall.

The Brewers could still manage a split in this series, and will take their first step toward doing so when these teams face off again tomorrow at 6:10, when Aaron Civale takes on Merrill Kelly.