Diamondbacks go toe-to-toe with Brewers but fail to land the knock-out blow

PHOENIX — Through 10 innings on Friday, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ bullpen had been stellar, while their defense made several highlight plays to stick with the dangerous Milwaukee Brewers.

But Arizona did not score a run in nine of those first 10 innings, and by the bottom of the 11th, it was too late.

The Brewers plated four runs off Ryan Thompson — two via a Jackson Chourio swinging bunt on which Thompson’s throw home got away for an error — to put the game to bed. The final score was 7-4.

The Diamondbacks (43-44) fell to 2-5 in extra innings this season, and in all five losses, they failed to score in the 10th inning.

Arizona was set up well for a walk-off win, too.

Ketel Marte stole second base in the ninth inning, but Geraldo Perdomo grounded out to end the threat. Perdomo started on second with Corbin Carroll leading off the 10th, but the Brewers walked Carroll to face Gabriel Moreno. He has been Arizona’s hottest hitter of late but one susceptible to double plays with his ground ball frequency and lack of speed.

Moreno — who had been 2-for-4 — hit into a crushing double play, and the D-backs came up empty.

“Pretty frustrating game,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We were right in it. … We felt like we had a couple shots to win that game. It just didn’t happen. … We had a chance to win it in the ninth. We had a chance to win it in the 10th. We just couldn’t get that big knock and get us over the top.”

The D-backs scored a futile run in the 11th inning on an Ildemaro Vargas single, his third hit of the game.

Diamondbacks go all-in vs. Brewers

Ultimately, the Diamondbacks sold out to win this game by pulling the plug on struggling rookie starter Jose Cabrera in the fourth inning and using all of their relievers except Drey Jameson. Arizona’s bullpen threw 6.2 scoreless innings until the 11th, giving the offense every opportunity to get ahead.

Familiar hitting inconsistencies persisted.

After the third inning, Arizona collected four hits, all singles and no more than one in an inning. The D-backs went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position, and the Brewers finished 3-for-18.

The NL Central-leading Brewers (54-32) have the second-best record in the National League, and the Diamondbacks had an opportunity to get a leg up with ace Eduardo Rodriguez due to pitch in the finale. Instead, they will have to come from behind to avoid another series loss to a good team.

The D-backs are 14-33 against clubs at or better than .500.

“These are the games we got to win,” Thompson said. “We should have won this game.”

Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s catch sparks early comeback

The Brewers took a 3-0 lead off Cabrera in the third inning and came within mere feet of doubling that lead. Cabrera was spraying the ball all over the place with lower velocity than normal, as Lovullo said there seemed to be something off mechanically.

The momentum shifted when Diamondbacks left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. leaped at the wall and robbed Milwaukee’s Garrett Mitchell of a three-run home run in the third inning.

That play completely changed the game, as a potential Brewers rout flipped into a tie ballgame in the bottom half of the frame. A Moreno RBI single put the D-backs on the board, and Nolan Arenado tied the game with a two-run double off left-hander Kyle Harrison.

“That was important for the game, but unfortunately, we just weren’t able to pull ahead. That’s part of the game,” Gurriel said in Spanish.

Neither starting pitcher made it past 3.1 innings, as this became a battle of the bullpens.

Arizona entered the matchup with a league-leading .271 average and top-three .773 OPS against lefties but a major league-worst .665 OPS versus righties. The Brewers had a short leash on Harrison, and the D-backs only saw one more inning of left-handed pitching after the third.

The Diamondbacks made some exceptional defensive plays. Perdomo tagged a runner between second and third and completed a double play to end the fourth inning. Moreno made an athletic play on a bunt and a strong throw to turn a safety squeeze into a 2-5 fielder’s choice in the eighth.

The D-backs also committed three errors, and Thompson took responsibility postgame for not just collecting the baseball and cutting his losses.

“The not-so-funny part about that was we practiced that before the game and we actually worked on those exact things, throwing to the catcher,” Thompson said. “We practiced it today and I butchered it, so yeah, looking back on it, I need to eat that ball. I need to not risk the throw, knowing that we’re gonna come up in the bottom of the next inning and have a good chance to tie the game if that’s the only run I give up.”

Friday attendance

31,820

Diamondbacks-Brewers: Saturday starters

Saturday’s game will feature a pair of veteran right-handers: Merrill Kelly (5-8, 5.84) for Arizona and Brandon Woodruff (2-1, 2.59) for Milwaukee.

First pitch will be at 6:40 p.m. MST with postgame fireworks at Chase Field for the Fourth of July.

The game will air on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app. 

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