Sedona Red Recap: D-backs smack trio of homers in six-run eighth to beat Mets

PHOENIX — Through seven innings Monday, the Arizona Diamondbacks had totaled one run on eight hits and failed in three opportunities with runners in scoring position.

That all changed in the eighth. And in a big way.

Yasmany Tomas, Jeff Mathis and pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso each homered as the D-backs scored six times and rolled over the New York Mets, 7-3, in the series opener in front of an announced crowd 15,988 at Chase Field.

The win ended a two-game losing streak.

With the game tied at 1, Tomas drilled a 97-mph fastball halfway up the batter’s eye in straightaway center field for a three-run home run. Three batters later, Mathis added a two-run shot and Descalso followed with a solo homer, all part of a five-hit inning.

The D-backs sent 10 men to the plate.

Five of the six runs were charged to Hansel Robles (4-1).

Jorge De La Rosa (2-0) picked up the win.

Neither starter factored in the decision.

Zack Godley pitched into the seventh inning for the second straight start. It was his third start overall in the absence of the injured Shelby Miller, and he did not disappoint.

Godley allowed only one run on one hit — a Rene Rivera RBI single — and struck out seven, tying a career-high in 6.2 innings. He did walk five, however.

Zack Wheeler was just as tough, scattering seven hits in six-plus innings. His lone mistake was a Jake Lamb solo home run to leadoff the six inning.

The Mets have lost five in a row.

THE GOOD

Only Paul Goldschmidt has hit more home runs for the D-backs than Lamb, who clubbed his eighth of the season. It was a solo shot to lead off the sixth inning and tie the game at 1. Lamb deposited Wheeler’s 2-0 fastball, clocked at 94 mph, just over the fence in left-center field.

Death, taxes and Goldschmidt reached base safely at Chase Field. By doubling in the first inning, he’s done so in 27 consecutive games, the second-longest streak of his career, trailing a 31-game performance from Aug. 9, 2015 to April 8, 2016. Goldschmidt added a second double in the eighth.

For the second straight game and 14th time this season, Chris Owings recorded multiple hits. After flying out to center field in the first inning, he singled in his next two at-bats. Owings finished 2-for-4 with a walk, and he is now batting .333 (24-for-72) with 14 RBI in his last 20 games.

In his final at-bat, Brandon Drury doubled down the left-field line to extend his home hitting streak to 12 straight games, during which time he is batting .426 (20-for-47). No one hits better at home in the majors than Drury, who is now at .427 (32-for-75) at Chase Field after going 1-for-4.

The Mathis and Descalso home runs marked the fourth time this season that the D-backs hit back-to-back homers. For Mathis, it was his second of the season, the first in seven games, while Descalso went deep for the third time and the fourth as a pinch-hitter in his career.

THE BAD

During one stretch in the second inning, Godley threw nine straight balls. The back-to-back, one-out walks preceded Rivera’s single to right field that scored Jose Reyes with the game’s first run. On the play, Rivera, who hit an 82-mph curveball on a 1-2 offering, extended his hitting streak to a career-high nine straight games.

A combined 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position in the past two games, the D-backs failed in their first two chances against Wheeler. Goldschmidt was left stranded at third base after his two-out double in the first inning. Later, Goldschmidt popped up to second base, leaving Godley at second base in the fifth inning.

STAT OF THE GAME

3: The D-backs hit three home runs, accounting for six runs in the eighth inning, their first three-homer inning since May 17, 2014, against the Dodgers, when they hit three in the eighth.

HE SAID IT

“You couldn’t ask for anything more,” manager Torey Lovullo said, referring to the six-run eighth inning. “We’d been a little dormant with our offense. We haven’t seen a big inning like that in several games, so it was nice to kind of get off the ground a little bit and watch the guys have a little fun and get after it.”

NOTED

– Godley threw a first-pitch strike to 13-of-27 batters faced. He reached a three-ball count seven times.

– Godley sports a 1.45 ERA (3 ER in 18.2 IP), allowing just nine hits and 19 strikeouts in 61 at-bats.

– J.J. Hoover has held opponents scoreless in 13 of his last 14 games and 16 of 17 overall in 2017.

– The D-backs welcomed back former coach Glenn Sherlock, now with the Mets, in the first inning.

– Ron Gardenhire returned to his role as bench coach following successful prostate cancer surgery.

– With a first-pitch temperature of 83 degrees, the game was played with the roof open and panels closed.

– A moment of silence for former MLB umpire Steve Palermo was held before the National Anthem.

UP NEXT

On a two-game winning streak and unbeaten over his last four starts, Zack Greinke takes the mound in game two of the three-game series. He’ll be opposed by left-hander Tom Milone on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station.

Greinke (4-2) has defeated the Rockies and Pirates in back-to-back outings, the latter of which saw him carry a no-hitter into the eighth inning. He settled for the win, highlighted by 11 strikeouts to only one walk.

Greinke is 4-1 with a 2.74 ERA in seven career starts against the Mets.

Meanwhile, Milone (1-0) makes his second Mets appearance since being claimed off waivers on May 7 from Milwaukee. He received the no-decision after tossing five innings and allowing two runs on six hits against the Giants at Citi Field.

Milone has faced the D-backs only one other time in his career, and it came as a member of the Oakland A’s on June 8, 2012. He didn’t factor in the 9-8 loss, working five innings with four runs allowed on nine hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

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