ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Sedona Red Recap: Yasmany Tomas slugs D-backs past Rockies

Sep 12, 2016, 11:22 PM

Arizona Diamondbacks' Yasmany Tomas (24) scores on a base hit by teammate Kyle Jensen as Colorado R...

Arizona Diamondbacks' Yasmany Tomas (24) scores on a base hit by teammate Kyle Jensen as Colorado Rockies' Tony Wolters (14) reaches for the tag during the second inning of a baseball game, Monday, Sept. 12, 2016, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

(AP Photo/Matt York)

The Shelby Miller experiment is still not working.

Even after his stint in the minors.

Making his first home appearance since being recalled from Triple-A Reno, Miller looked no different than from many of his past showings this season: Good early and then awful late.

Fortunately for him and the 20,637 in attendance at Chase Field, Yasmany Tomas turned a negative evening into a positive one for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Tomas hit his first career grand slam to help rally the D-backs to a 12-9 series-opening victory over the Colorado Rockies.

Brandon Drury and Mitch Haniger also hit late-inning home runs as the D-backs ended a six-game losing streak.

For Haniger, it was the first of his big-league career.

Miller had exited the game well before the comeback, lasting just five innings. He retired the first nine batters of the game, but then through the second and third times through the Rockies’ order was far from perfect, giving up three runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings.

Miller allowed six runs on nine hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

He remains winless in nine starts this season at home.

Meanwhile, Tomas matched his career-high with four hits and had five RBI.

Drury, too, matched a career-high with four hits.

As a team, the D-backs pounded out 16 hits, becoming the first National League team since the 1932 Brooklyn Dodgers to record a 12-game streak of 10 or more hits against a single opponent in a single season.

THE GOOD

Nine up, nine down for Miller to begin his outing. His three perfect innings included two groundouts, three strikeouts and four flyouts. Miller, on the Chase Field mound for the first time since July 6, was efficient with his pitches as well, throwing 14, 17 and 12 for a total of 43, 29 of which were strikes. Five of the nine batters fell behind 0-1.

Making his first start of his big-league career, Kyle Jensen singled in each of his first two at-bats, driving in runs both times. First, he plated Tomas to put the D-backs on the scoreboard 1-0 in the second inning. Later, he again brought home Tomas plus Jake Lamb to extend the D-backs’ lead to 5-0 in the third inning. Jensen finished 2-for-4 with a strikeout.

With one swing of the bat, the D-backs erased a three-run sixth-inning deficit and went ahead 10-9 on Tomas’ two-out grand slam, the first of his career. He took Jordan Lyles’ 1-0 offering the opposite way over the right-field fence to plate Drury, Paul Goldschmidt and Welington Castillo. It was Tomas’ fourth hit, leaving him a triple shy of the cycle.

With Chris Owings being given the day off, Drury not only got the start at second base but he was moved up in the batting order, hitting in the two-hole. Drury responded with a pair of singles plus a double in the third and a solo home run in the seventh inning; the latter was smashed deep to left field off Jake McGee. He finished a triple shy of the cycle.

THE BAD

About Miller’s good start: It was followed by the fourth inning, and the second time through the order. Charlie Blackmon led off with a single, ending any thoughts of a perfect game or no-hitter. Three more hits in the inning produced a total of three runs, pulling the Rockies to within 5-3. Carlos Gonzalez came within inches of a three-run home run with a blast to deep center that hit just below the yellow line. He settled for an RBI double.

Handed a 5-0 lead, Miller allowed three runs. Later, with the score 6-3, Miller wasted that advantage, too. Now the third time through the order, Miller surrendered a two-out, two-run double to Gonzalez and a two-out, game-tying RBI single to Raimel Tapia as part of a three-run fifth inning. Five of the seven batters Miller faced in the inning had hits with Blackmon caught stealing third base following a one-out double to right field.

And even after Miller exited the ballgame, the Rockies kept scoring. Of course, they were facing the D-backs’ bullpen. Edwin Escobar and Randall Delgado combined to give up three runs on four hits, including a solo home run to Daniel Descalso, in the sixth inning, which allowed Colorado to take a 9-6 lead. Escobar has been scored upon in each of his last three appearances, while Delgado has surrendered runs in back-to-back outings.

It’s not written often, but the game included some poor base running by Jean Segura. He failed to run hard to first on a sharply hit ball to third base in the third inning. Nolan Arenado made a great play to field the ball, but his throw pulled Mark Reynolds off the first-base bag. Reynolds, however, had time to reach back for the bag with his left foot ahead of Segura because Segura had slowed down. An inning later, Segura was caught stealing third base.

STAT OF THE GAME, part I

7.04: Miller’s ERA in three starts since rejoining the D-backs in which he’s allowed 12 ER in 15.3 innings

STAT OF THE GAME, part II

7.85: Miller’s ERA in nine home starts this season—he’s 0-7—in which he’s allowed 41 ER in 47 innings

HE SAID IT

“They make adjustments, just like our guys did and they got on top of the fastball,” manager Chip Hale said, referring to the Rockies hitters against Miller. “There was a lot of high fastballs that most guys can’t get on top of that they were getting on top of and hitting very hard.”

NOTED

– Tomas is now batting .347 (25-for-72) with 12 home runs and 26 RBI over his last 18 games at home.

– Drury is now batting .418 (23-for-55) with two home runs and 12 RBI over his last 16 games played.

– Lamb recorded his 36th two-out RBI, tying him with Stephen Piscotty for second-most in the league.

– With a first-pitch temperature of 96 degrees, the game was played with both the roof and panels open.

– Will Claye, 2016 triple jump Olympic Silver Medalist and Tucson native, was among those at the game.

UP NEXT

Dueling left-handers Robbie Ray and Jorge De La Rosa take the mound in game two of the three-game series on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Ray (7-13) will be looking to end a three-start winless streak.

In his last appearance, Ray recorded a quality outing, but he suffered a 3-1 loss at the Dodgers, allowing the three runs on just two hits, including a home run, with four walks and 12 strikeouts, the fourth time he’s hit double-digit strikeouts this season.

This will be Ray’s seventh career start, and fourth this year, against the Rockies.

De La Rosa, too, will be seeing a familiar opponent for the fourth time.

De La Rosa (8-7) has but one win spanning his last seven appearances, receiving a no-decision six times, including in each of his three previous outings. He’s coming off one of his worst showings of the season, allowing five runs on nine hits, including a pair of home runs, in six innings against the Giants.

All-time against the D-backs, De La Rosa is 10-8, but he sports just a 1-7 record in 11 career starts at Chase Field.

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