Dose of Venom: D-backs’ Campana plays the hero, records first walk-off hit in win over Brewers
Jun 19, 2014, 5:37 AM
PHOENIX — Showered with bubble gum and whatever else his teammates could get their hands on, Tony Campana enjoyed the celebration following his first career walk-off hit.
“It was cool,” he said. “Martin (Prado) putting a lot of dirt in my hair, but I’ll take it for sure.”
Campana stepped to the plate with two outs and Prado 90-feet away representing the winning run.
“I knew all I had to do was find a way to put a ball in play and beat it to first, so just getting a ball in play,” explained Campana, who had been 0-for-9 since being recalled from Triple-A Reno on June 13. “Hitting the ball on the ground because hitting it in the air pretty good wasn’t working the first few at-bats. Just get a ball on the ground and I snuck it through.”
It will go down as a single to center to help the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Milwaukee Brewers Brewers for the first time in the four-game series, 4-3, in front of an announced crowd of 19,711 at Chase Field on Wednesday.
Brad Ziegler (3-1) earned the win, striking out three of the four batters he faced coming in to relieve Wade Miley with two outs in the eighth.
Miley pitched well, but received his third-straight no decision.
“I located pretty well,” he said. “Even the (Khris) Davis home run I felt like I made a pretty good pitch; just got to be a little smarter in that situation with a guy like that. But felt like I located the ball well, moved it in and out and was able to throw sliders down and for strikes so everything went pretty well.”
After the Davis homer, which tied the game at three, Miley allowed just one other hit. He retired 11 straight before back-to-back two-out walks ended his night in the eighth.
THE GOOD:
Four pitches in and the Diamondbacks scored the first run of the game. Gerardo Parra tripled, his third of the season. Chris Owings then followed with an infield single, a hard hit grounder that glanced off of Mark Reynolds’ glove at first. Three batters later, Aaron Hill plated a second run with an RBI fielder’s choice.
The Diamondbacks scored two batters into the third inning as well. Owings tripled, his fourth of the season, off the ledge on the center field wall. Paul Goldschmidt then followed with a base hit up the middle for his 52nd RBI, the second-most in the National League.
Goldschmidt, by the way, went 1-for-4 and has now reached base safely in 12 consecutive games, hitting .350 (14-for-40) with four doubles, four home runs, eight RBI and 11 walks.
For the ninth time this season, Owings finished with at least three hits, the most of any Diamondback. He should’ve had a four-hit game, but his line drive in the fifth was caught by Mark Reynolds diving towards the first base line. Owings is hitting .343 (23-for-67) in his last 20 games.
Miley struck out four consecutive batters spanning the second and third innings. He entered the game third in the National League with 33 strikeouts since May 27, trailing Cole Hamels (36) and Clayton Kershaw (34). Miley finished the game with eight strikeouts for the second start in a row.
THE BAD:
In the end it did not cost the Diamondbacks, but Miguel Montero dropped a pop fly near the Diamondbacks’ on-deck circle in foul territory on a ball hit by Aramis Ramirez in the second. Montero was charged with an error, his eighth (three more than a year ago) of the season, tied for the most among catchers in the National League.
For the seventh time this month and 17th time this season Miley allowed a home run. Davis clubbed the game-tying long ball on the first pitch he saw in the fourth inning, placing it into the pool area just behind the fence in right-center field. Miley has surrendered the second-most homers in all of baseball.
The Diamondbacks’ bats went silent following Goldschmidt’s RBI single in the third. Matt Garza settled down to retire 16 of the final 18 batters he faced. He erased Montero’s lead off single in the sixth with a double play ball and Chris Owings was left stranded at third after his one-out double in the eighth.
STAT OF THE GAME:
1: It was the first career walk-off hit for Campana and the first win for the Diamondbacks against the Brewers in the series.
HE SAID IT:
“I think that was the softest ball he hit all night,” Wade Miley said of Tony Campana’s ninth-inning at-bat. “He hit the ball hard all night and can’t get a hit. He hits a nubber through the middle and wins the game. It’s pretty good for him.”
NOTED:
• Wade Miley, whose 7.2 innings pitched were his most at Chase Field since July 25, 2013 against the Cubs, has gone seven straight starts without a victory, last winning at the White Sox on May 10.
• Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez, back in the lineup after missing two games because of a sore hamstring, extended his hitting streak to a career high-tying 14 games with a single to center in the fourth inning.
• Outfielder Ender Inciarte played a simulated game at Salt River Fields after passing all of his concussion tests and could be activated off the seven-day disabled list as early as Friday.
UP NEXT:
Coming off his first career loss, Chase Anderson takes the mound in the series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday, June 19. First pitch is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.
Anderson (5-1, 3.21) won his first five starts before suffering defeat his last time out, allowing two runs in five innings at the L.A. Dodgers on June 13. The rookie right-hander, who has never faced Milwaukee, is 3-0 at home. He’ll be opposed by fellow right-hander Yovani Gallardo (4-4, 3.51), who has 10 quality starts this season. He’s dominated the Diamondbacks, going 6-0 with a 1.93 ERA in nine career starts, including a 4-0 mark in five starts at Chase Field.
