D-backs return home, rediscover their offense in win over Cincinnati

PHOENIX — Over the last two-and-a-half weeks, a stretch of baseball in which they lost 15 of 17, the Arizona Diamondbacks caught few, if any, breaks.

Perhaps their luck is changing.

Trailing 1-0 in the second inning, Socrates Brito hit what appeared to be an inning-ending double-play ball. Instead, shortstop Jose Peraza booted the ground ball, allowing the tying run to score and opening the door for three more runs to score.

These helped the D-backs beat the Cincinnati Reds 12-5 in game one of the three-game series in front of an announced crowd of 29,924 at Chase Field Monday afternoon.

The 12 runs were a season-high with the four runs in the second marking the most by the D-backs in a single inning since April 26.

Nick Ahmed, Chris Owings and John Ryan Murphy each hit home runs in the game. The Ahmed and Owings homers were three-run shots, with Ahmed’s coming one batter after the Peraza error.

“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,” said Ahmed, who finished four RBI.

Starter Matt Koch benefited from the offensive explosion.

Making his first-ever appearance against the Reds, Koch (3-3) ended a three-start losing streak, allowing five runs on 11 hits in five innings.

Homer Baily (1-7) suffered the loss, surrendering two of the D-backs’ three home runs.

The Reds have dropped two straight and three of four overall.

Meanwhile, the D-backs, back home after a three-city, nine-game, 10-day road trip, snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 7-18 in May.

THE GOOD

Leave it to Daniel Descalso to trigger the four-run second-inning. He seems to have a hand in many of the D-backs’ scoring outbursts this season. Descalso led off the inning lining a triple past a diving Billy Hamilton in center field. It was Descalso’s third three-base hit this year, and he scored on the Peraza misplay. Descalso finished 1-for-3 with a walk and is now batting .291 (25-for-86) in his last 31 games.

Last season Ahmed hit six home runs in 53 games. This season, in his 49th game, he hit his eighth. It was a historic one, too. Prior to his second-inning three-run shot, Ahmed had never homered on an 0-2 pitch. With one out, he drilled Bailey’s offering—an 87.5 mph slider—over the fence in left field to put the D-backs in front, 4-1. The eight home runs, by the way, are on shy of Ahmed’s career-high of nine in 2015.

Making his third start in five games and 12th overall this season, Murphy showed why he’s deserving of more playing time. His fourth-inning solo home run was his sixth long ball of the season. He worked the count full after falling behind 1-2 and then drilled a 92.4 mph fastball over the fence in left field to extend the D-backs lead to 5-1. Murphy is batting .288 (15-for-52) with six home runs and 14 RBI in 13 starts.

Like so many of his teammates, Owings has been struggling at the plate in recent weeks. Entering Monday, his batting average read .180. Owings reached base in each of his first three plate appearances, highlighted of course by the two-out three-run home run in the fifth inning, which snapped a 4-for-51 slump. He lined a 3-1 fastball—clocked at 93.4 mph—over the fence in left field to extend the D-backs lead to 9-5. It was just his third homer of the season.

THE BAD

Defensive shifts are great. When the work, of course. And when they don’t, well, that’s how the Reds scored the game’s first run. With two on and one out in the second inning, Adam Duvall hit a shift-beating ground ball to the right side—typically where the second baseman is positioned—and into the outfield, allowing Scooter Gennett to score easily from second base and put the Reds ahead, 1-0.

The third out momentarily eluded Koch in the fifth inning, and because of it the Reds were able to score four times to pull within a run, 6-5. After retiring two of the first three batters in the inning, Koch allowed hits to four of the next five batters with Eugenio Suarez recording an RBI double and Duvall clearing the bases with a three-run double. The pair played big for the Reds: Suarez went 4-for-5, while Duvall had a season-high four RBI.

Though he earned the win, Koch didn’t have the best day on the mound. He allowed a season-high 11 hits in his third straight start in which he failed to pitch a full six innings. Since an eight-inning effort against Washington on May 11, Koch has gone 4.1, 5.1 and 5.0 innings. Also during this three-start run, his ERA is 8.59 (14 ER in 14.2 IP), which has increased his overall ERA to 4.31.

STAT OF THE GAME

12: Not only was the D-backs’ 12 runs a season-high but it exceeded their run total from the previous series—eight in three games at Oakland—and was one better than they scored in the eight losses during the recent road trip

HE SAID IT

“It was a nice, comfortable type of a win that we haven’t had in awhile. It seems like we’ve had some grinding one-run games but this, that’s what this team is very capable of,” manager Torey Lovullo said.

NOTED

Koch threw a first-pitch strike to 14-of-26 batters faced; in addition, he reached a 3-ball count five times

Paul Goldschmidt recorded his second multi-hit effort in four games, raising his batting average to .208

Jarrod Dyson was the lone D-backs position player not to record a hit; he did, however, walk two times

David Peralta was not in the starting lineup; he received the day off, his first since May 9 at Los Angeles

Reds relievers Wandy Peralta and Michael Lorenzen each rode in the bullpen cart in the sixth inning

D-backs improved to 10-11 all-time when playing on Memorial Day, including a 6-4 mark at Chase Field

As part of Memorial Day, the D-backs participated in the National Moment of Remembrance at 3:02 p.m.

This marked the D-backs’ third straight day game played, their first such stretch since May 27-29, 2017

With a first-pitch temperature of 94 degrees, the game was played with both the roof and panels closed

UP NEXT

Winless in his last five starts, Zack Godley takes the mound in game two of the three-game series on Tuesday, May 29. He’ll be opposed by fellow right-hander Luis Castillo. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station.

Godley (4-4) has not visited the win column since April 27, leaving him without a victory here in May. He’s lost his last two outings. Most recently, Godley was lit up for eight runs, six earned, on seven hits with six walks in a season-low 3.1 innings at Milwaukee.

The walks have been an issue for Godley, who has issued 18 free passes in 27.1 innings pitched in May.

Meanwhile, Castillo (4-4) is unbeaten over his last four starts, winning three times including five days ago against Pittsburgh. He allowed two runs on four hits in six innings for what was his third quality outing in five starts this month.

Castillo is 1-1 in two starts all-time facing the D-backs.

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