Sedona Red Recap: De La Rosa delivers as Diamondbacks shut out Brewers

The formula seems so simple: get good starting pitching and you’re going to find success on the scoreboard more often than not. That was certainly the case for the Arizona Diamondbacks Saturday evening.

One night after squandering a masterful, 10-strikeout performance from Patrick Corbin, the D-backs capitalized on an extremely strong outing from Rubby De La Rosa. The 26-year-old righty picked up his second straight win by shutting out the Milwaukee Brewers over eight innings in front of 34,957 fans at Chase Field.

What’s more, he did it on Randy Johnson Hall of Fame Bobblehead Night.

Paul Goldschmidt drove in a run, then came around to score in the first, which was all Arizona needed in a 2-0 victory over Milwaukee. The D-backs have now taken two of three from the Brewers in this series so far, getting excellent pitching in all three contests. How excellent? De La Rosa, Corbin and Zack Godley have combined for 23 strikeouts over 21 innings since Thursday, allowing just one earned run in the process. That works out to a 0.43 ERA from the starters in this series, with a .164 opponent average.

In other words, the bar has been raised for Jeremy Hellickson come Sunday.

THE GOOD

– The usual suspects got the scoring started for Arizona in the first, as A.J. Pollock walked, then scored on a long double to right off the bat of Goldschmidt. Jake Lamb later singled Goldschmidt home to put the D-backs up 2-0.

– Cliff Pennington, Chris Owings and Goldschmidt combined to turn a key double play and keep the Brewers scoreless in the top of the third. At the time, Milwaukee had runners on first and second, with no outs and Ryan Braun in the on-deck circle. The twin killer stifled the rally though and Braun struck out looking to end the inning.

– The Diamondbacks found some more defensive magic when Lamb made a diving play to rob Carlos Gomez of a hit in the fourth.

– From there, De La Rosa took over. He didn’t allow an extra-base hit all evening, striking out six Brewers while yielding just four singles over eight innings.

– Brad Ziegler came in to close things out in the ninth and — despite loading the bases — managed to come away with his 16th save of the year. He’s now converted 14 consecutive save opportunities.

THE BAD

– Ender Inciarte led off the bottom of the first with a double, but was caught stealing three pitches later when Taylor Jungmann threw back to second as Inciarte was starting to make his move for third.

– Arizona entered the game with just 45 errors committed — fourth-best in the Majors, and third in the NL — but committed three Saturday. Lamb misjudged a pop-up in foul territory off the bat of Adam Lind in the first, then Pennington fired high and wide of Goldschmidt while attempting to throw out Hernan Perez in the fifth. Two batters later, Lamb lost the ball while trying to pull it out of his glove on a Gerardo Parra grounder.

STAT OF THE GAME

10-0: That’s Rubby De La Rosa’s record over his last 14 starts in which he’s gone seven-plus innings. His ERA in those games is 1.15.

HE SAID IT

“As I was walking out there, I just wanted to talk to him, look in his eyes and see what I saw. And also talk to Castillo. And both of them were very positive and felt very good about being able to get the outs they needed. So I just tapped him on the chest and said ‘you got it’.” – Chip Hale, on the decision to let De La Rosa stay in and finish off the eighth inning

NOTED

– Pollock has now reached base in a career-high 21 straight games.

– Goldschmidt is hitting .571 (12-for-21) with three home runs, seven RBI and nine walks in six games against Milwaukee this season.

– De La Rosa is 6-1 at Chase Field in 2015.

– Randy Johnson will be inducted into Cooperstown on Sunday, becoming the first player wearing a Diamondbacks hat to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. All gates at Chase Field will be open at 11 a.m. allowing fans can watch the ceremony live on dbTV.

UP NEXT

The two clubs will wrap up this four-game series at Chase Field on Sunday afternoon. Hellickson gets the start for Arizona, while Milwaukee trots Matt Garza out to the mound. First pitch is slated for 1:10 p.m., with pre-game coverage beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Hellickson (6-6) has turned in five consecutive quality starts at home, going 4-1 with a 2.76 ERA in those contests. That lone loss came in his last outing, but it was hardly his fault as he allowed just two runs while striking out six over seven innings in a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Marlins on July 21.

This will be Hellickson’s second start against the Brewers this season. He won the first by scattering two earned runs over six innings in a 7-3 victory in Milwaukee back on May 30.

Garza (5-10) has struggled throughout most of the season, dropping seven of his last nine decisions. He did grab a win in his most recent outing though, tossing six scoreless frames in an 8-1 dismantling of Cleveland on July 21.

In his last outing against the D-backs, Garza pitched five scoreless innings in a 7-6 Brewers win on May 31.