Despite three home runs off of starter Zack Greinke, Milwaukee used small ball in the later innings to hold back the Diamondbacks and win 9-4 to take a two games to none lead in their series.
Greinke had a start like many others that have plagued him this year: minimal walks, lots of strikeouts, and runs still on the board. He struck out seven without a walk and allowed four runs in five innings, all coming off of those three Diamondback homers. Milwaukee pitching ended up putting 15 Diamondbacks on base, but ten of them were stranded. Arizona went 0/10 with runners in scoring position, and struck out 13 times.
The Brewers started the game on a high note, with a two run home run by Ryan Braun in the first inning. Arizona answered with their first homer, coming off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt, in the second. Milwaukee would respond, getting a pair in the third thanks to a RBI single by Prince Fielder (scoring Braun, who had doubled) and a RBI triple by Rickie Weeks to score Fielder. Arizona’s response was homers in the fourth and fifth innings – a solo shot by Chris Young, and a long two run blast by Justin Upton to tie the game at four.
Then, Milwaukee went off on Brad Ziegler. Arizona starter Daniel Hudson was pulled after allowing a double to Jerry Hairston Jr in the six. Ziegler relieved him, and after a balk, immediately walked Yuniesky Betancourt (no small feat). Ron Roenicke reached into his bag of tricks, and called for a perfectly executed squeeze by catcher Matthew Lucroy to score Hairston. Lucroy and Betancourt moved up on an error on the play, and Arizona intentionally walked Mark Kotsay to load the bases for the top of Milwaukee’s order.
The Brewers made Arizona pay for the walk, as Corey Hart and Nyjer Morgan both singled up the middle on the first pitch to score three runs. Braun followed with a single on the second pitch to make it 9-4, and to kill all of the momentum the Diamondbacks had built up with their home runs. That would be all that Milwaukee needed.
The back end of the Brewers bullpen made it interesting, with each of their final three relievers allowing two men to reach base. But they all got out of their innings with no damage. After Ziegler exited the game, the Diamondbacks bullpen didn’t allow a run. But by then, it was too little, too late. The damage had already been done.
The big star of the game for the Brewers was their superstar, Braun. He had three hits, three RBI, and scored two runs to lead Milwaukee’s offensive outburst. For Arizona, August pickup Aaron Hill reached base five times to continue his resurgence, and Young added three hits of his own, but the struggles with runners in scoring position doomed the D-Backs. Cleanup hitter Miguel Montero went 0/4 with a walk, and doesn’t have a hit in the series. He needs to get going if the Diamondbacks want to have a prayer at advancing.
The Brewers hold a 2-0 series lead, and will look to finish Arizona off on Tuesday in Phoenix. It’ll be the late game, starting at 9:37 PM, and it’ll pit rookie Josh Collmenter against Shaun Marcum. It’ll be the 29 year old Marcum’s playoff debut.
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