Diamondbacks score double-digit runs for first time this season
May 28, 2018, 4:29 PM | Updated: 6:22 pm
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
The Arizona Diamondbacks scored double-digit runs in a game for the first time since the 2017 Wild Card game.
They scored more than seven runs for the first time since May 8.
All hitters, excluding pitchers Matt Koch and T.J. McFarland, reached base in an 12-5 victory.
But if not for contributions on both side of the ball, the D-backs may have struggled to put away the Cincinnati Reds.
Nick Ahmed
The Reds scoring a run in the second inning could have spelled trouble for Arizona.
After all, the D-backs only had five hits in the last two games combined. Trailing by one has become a deficit.
In the bottom of the second, though, shortstop Nick Ahmed stepped to the plate with two runners on.
He blasted his eighth home run of the season to left field. He’s already one shy from his season high, which he hit in 2015.
Nick Ahmed makes it hurt. After a #Reds error, Ahmed smashes a 3-run homer on a hanging slider and the @Dbacks lead. pic.twitter.com/UqViHfJsy9
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) May 28, 2018
“(It’s) just a by-product of taking good swings at good pitches to hit,” Ahmed said. “I’ve always had the strength and the bat speed to be able to do it, it’s just matching pitch point.”
The D-backs don’t often rely on him for his offense. They know they’ll get impressive plays on the other side of the ball.
He did that in the fifth to keep the Reds from tying the game at six.
A sharp ground ball bounced off the diving third baseman Jake Lamb’s glove. Ahmed raced to it and threw it home, just in time to nab left fielder Adam Duvall.
This was such a huge play in the fifth, as it kept the @Dbacks ahead and they scored the final 6 runs to win going away. pic.twitter.com/6RkhGRGUFC
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) May 28, 2018
“That was a full team play right there,” Ahmed said. “Lamb with a dive, knocking it down … (second baseman Daniel) Descalso did a great job kind of alerting me, letting me know the guy was going home. Something you guys would never see, but he was in my ear.”
Ahmed had heads-up base running, too. With runners on the corners in the fourth, he grounded to third.
Third baseman Eugenio Suarez made sure Arizona shortstop Chris Owings wasn’t going before throwing the ball to second. Owings then raced for home.
Second baseman Scooter Gannett threw the ball home. The catcher couldn’t corral the ball and Ahmed got to second.
“Any time you can get those opportunities where a team kind of hands you something or gives you one of those free 90s or opportunities to continue an inning, you want to try to pounce on it, and that’s what the good teams do,” Ahmed said.
Chris Owings
That was certainly heads-up running from Owings, too. He scored on the Ahmed grounder despite being stared down for a second before he took off.
He helped out an inning later as well.
After Duvall and the Reds closed the gap to 6-5, Owings came to the plate with two outs and runners on first and second.
C.O. makes sure to get the momentum back with a 3-run bomb. The @Dbacks brought the bats today and it's NICE. pic.twitter.com/xqHGLXIBif
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) May 28, 2018
He hit a three-run home run and extended the D-backs lead back to four.
“That’s what we did all of April, we just need to get back to doing that,” Owings said.
It was Owing’s only hit of the day, but he scored three runs. It was his third dinger of the season.
Plus, on defense, he’s playing right field. Let’s not forget that he’s a natural infielder and had never played right field in the MLB before last season.
John Ryan Murphy
Catcher John Ryan Murphy did a good job of catching Ahmed’s throw in the fourth inning and lunging at Duvall to nab him at the plate, preventing the game from being tied.
What a play by Ahmed and Murphy to preserve the @Dbacks lead! pic.twitter.com/GDboPQIqlN
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) May 28, 2018
He also did his part on offense.
The D-backs aren’t accustomed to seeing big hits from the catcher spot this season, but Murphy hit his fifth home run of the season to lead off the fourth inning.
JRM goes boom. pic.twitter.com/LjhftcYk1Z
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) May 28, 2018
Murphy is now hitting .288 over his 13 starts this season.
The collective effort on different facets of the game allowed the Diamondbacks to get back in the win column.
Though the Reds had a strong offensive game, they weren’t able to do the same.
Cincinnati outhit the D-backs 16-11 and managed to score five runs, which would have beat Arizona in all but two games this month.
However, they weren’t able to play the well-rounded game Arizona did.
The Reds had three errors. Two were on plays the D-backs scored, and the third allowed Owings to get to first base in the fourth. He would later score.
“We caught a break, and I want to make a big point of that, because we haven’t gotten a lot of breaks,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “And I’m not up here whining about it, I just know that teams have been playing their best against us and we’ve suffered … Today, we took advantage.”
Coming into the game, Cincinnati’s 4.90 ERA was No. 26 in the majors. Starting pitcher Homer Bailey gave up eight runs – six earned in four innings of work.
The bullpen, with a 4.02 ERA entering the game, gave up four more runs.
Though the D-backs were against the last-place team in the NL Central, it should be a confidence-builder that they managed to put the Reds away.
After scoring seven runs on Friday and 12 on Monday, the team may be getting close to solving its offensive struggles.
“It was a nice, comfortable type of a win that we haven’t had in a while,” Lovullo said. “That’s what this team is very capable of.”