Sedona Red Recap: Rangers come alive late, pummel Hudson, D-backs

He deserved better.

Arizona Diamondbacks starter Chase Anderson recorded his second straight quality start, tying a career-high with seven innings pitched. But he left with a no decision.

Even worse, the D-backs lost the game.

The Texas Rangers broke open a 1-1 ball game with a four-run eighth inning and won Tuesday’s series opener 7-1 in front of an announced crowd of 18,345 at Chase Field.

Prince Fielder drove in three runs and Leonys Martin two. They each had a pair of hits, including Fielder’s first home run of the season, a two-run shot off Daniel Hudson (0-1) in the eighth.

Anderson is still looking for his first win of the season.

After allowing his one and only run of the game — a first-inning RBI double by Fielder — Anderson settled in and retired 20 of 22 batters, including five strikeouts. He did not issue a walk for the first time this season.

For the Rangers, left-hander Nick Martinez was just as effective. He, too, allowed but one run over his six innings of work, retiring 11 of 12 before getting in and out of trouble in the sixth.

Shawn Tolleson (1-0) pitched 1.2 innings to earn the win in relief.

Making his first career start, Yasmany Tomas collected two of his team’s seven hits with a pair of singles. He fielded three of his four chances cleanly at third base and was charged with a two-base error in the third inning.

The D-backs have lost two of three.

THE GOOD

In his very first at-bat of the game — with two outs in the bottom half of the first — Paul Goldschmidt ripped a 2-2 changeup into center field for a single, extending his hitting streak to eight games, tied for the second-longest active streak in the National League. Goldschmidt finished 1-for-3 with a walk.

It may have taken a few games, 13 for those keeping track, but Nick Ahmed finally drove in his first run of the season. His groundout to third in the second inning scored Tomas to tie the game at 1. Tomas had singled and advanced 180 feet on Tuffy Gosewisch’s one-out base hit to right field.

Following Fielder’s run-scoring double in the first, Anderson retired seven straight and eight of the next nine batters faced. Six of those outs were on grounders, four of which were hit to second baseman Chris Owings, who finished with six assists. Owings leads the team with 45.

Following Adrian Beltre’s leadoff single in the fourth, Anderson retired 12 straight, including four via strikeout. He got Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Peguero to swing-and-miss in the fourth, Martinez in the fifth and Peguero again in the sixth — the latter on an 80 mph changeup with Anderson’s 106th and final pitch.

THE BAD

Anderson and the D-backs found themselves down 1-0 just three batters and 15 pitches into the game. Martin hit a leadoff double — part of a nine-pitch at-bat — and then with one out, Fielder swung at the first offering he saw — a 93 mph fastball — and recorded a double of his own into the right-center field gap to score Martin from third.

After three hits in the first two innings, the D-backs managed but two over the next four frames with both coming in the sixth. Mark Trumbo snapped a run of nine straight retired by Martinez with a two-out single to center. Two batters later, Tomas legged out an infield hit to load the bases, which is how they remained when Gosewisch hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

The D-backs left two more runners on base, including one in scoring position, in the seventh. Owings’ two-out single advanced Danny Dorn to third and brought up Goldschmidt. With the go-ahead run 90 feet away, Goldschmidt worked the count to 2-2 before striking out for the second straight at-bat and ending the threat.

Hudson’s four runs allowed — three earned — in the eighth inning were his first of the season. There was Fielder’s home run and an RBI single by Elvis Andrus plus a pair of D-backs errors, one by Cliff Pennington — a late-game entry for Tomas at third — and another by Gosewisch, whose overthrow on a stolen base attempt brought in the second run.

The Rangers first three hitters — Martin, Andrus and Fielder — each had two hits and combined to go 6-for-14 with two doubles, one home run, six RBI and four runs scored. By the way, Fielder’s home run was his first since May 8, 2014, against Colorado and his first on the road since Sept. 10, 2013. It was the 11th of his career against the D-backs.

STAT OF THE GAME

7: The number of runs scored by the Rangers, tying a D-backs’ opponent season high

HE SAID IT

“I felt good out there,” Anderson said. “I just wanted to give the team a chance to win the ball game. I felt like I did my job tonight. I feel bad that we couldn’t get the win, you know. I feel for those guys. They’ve been playing hard this whole year. Hitters battled. No one is giving up. It’s just a tough loss tonight.”

NOTED

• Anderson has thrown at least five innings in each of his first 14 home starts, setting a club record to begin his D-backs career.

• Gosewisch has reached base safely in all 11 games he’s played, tied for the longest streak by a catcher this season.

• Dorn made his major league debut after 939 minor league games, earning a six-pitch walk with one out in the seventh inning.

• D-backs starters have posted a 1.93 ERA (9 earned runs in 42.0 innings pitched) over their last six games.

• D-backs hitters failed to record an extra-base hit for the first time this season.

UP NEXT

The brief two-game interleague series concludes with a pair of right-handers taking the mound in Archie Bradley and Yovani Gallardo on Wednesday, April 22.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Bradley (1-0) is making his third career start.

After winning his major league debut against the Dodgers, Bradley did not factor in the decision in his last outing when he allowed two earned runs in 6.2 innings at San Francisco on April 16.

He became the first pitcher in baseball history to start opposite the reigning Cy Young Award winner (Clayton Kershaw) and the World Series MVP (Madison Bumgarner) in his first two big league games.

Meanwhile, Gallardo (2-1) is coming off a six-inning shutout performance against Seattle, which gave him his second win of the year. He’s won back-to-back starts after losing six consecutive outings from Aug. 22, 2014, to April 6, 2015.

Gallardo, acquired from Milwaukee in the offseason, has owned the D-backs, going 7-0 with a 1.86 in 10 career starts. Five of those wins have come at Chase Field.