Ahmed breaks up Freddy Peralta no-hit bid in 8th, D-backs fall to Brewers

Frustrations were running high among the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night in their 5-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta kept the D-backs’ bats in check, throwing a no-hitter through eight innings.

In the seventh inning, Christian Walker looked to get a base hit, but a diving catch by Luis Urias got the out and preserved the no-hitter.

“He’s all over the zone,” Walker said of Peralta’s pitching. “He’ll fill it up. He’s at the top of the zone, he’s at the bottom of the zone. It was tough to settle in tonight for sure.”

WICHO ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!#ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/GXeky7c0bW

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) June 5, 2021

Ultimately, a Nick Ahmed single broke up Peralta’s no-no bid.

“I went to battle mode and tried to compete, and I was able to get the barrel on it, keep my bat on plane with the pitch and something good happened there,” Ahmed said.

There goes the no-no!@Dbacks | #RattleOn pic.twitter.com/5knG5PxgeU

— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) June 5, 2021

Peralta was replaced by former D-back Brad Boxberger, who surrendered a run on a sac fly by Asdrubal Cabrera — Arizona’s only run of the night.

It was Cabrera’s first game back with Arizona since suffering a right hamstring strain on May 13.

Matt Peacock took the mound for his fourth start as a D-back, allowing four runs, five hits, four walks and two strike outs across 4.2 innings of work.

Trouble came for Peacock quickly in the second inning. The righty loaded the bases on two walks and a single with Jackie Bradley stepping up to the plate. Peacock retired the next two batters and got out of the inning.

A double-error in the third put the D-backs down by four. A fielding error by outfielder Pavin Smith lead to the Brewers’ Avisail Garcia scoring. But after Smith threw the ball to second baseman Josh Rojas, Rojas overthrew the ball to third, allowing the Brewers to notch another run.

Manager Torey Lovullo was heated about his team’s sloppy play, lecturing them in the dugout following the inning.

The skipper is not happy 😅 pic.twitter.com/HZQ67hVRp6

— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) June 5, 2021

“He was in every right to be frustrated like everyone else was,” Ahmed said of the manager’s passionate speech.

“We’re not doing small things well, so it just amplifies things and frustrates things even more when a team like us who in the past is supposed to be very fundamentally sound is not doing those little things correct,” he added. “It’s just very frustrating.”

Lovullo said he will be keeping the majority of what he said between the players and himself, but noted that expectations are clearly not getting met.

“What I told them was that I have extremely high expectations of this group and we are a good baseball team and it’s time to go out and play our type of baseball,” Lovullo said via Zoom postgame. “At the end of the night, I can sit down and accept a win or a loss if we do things our way.

“We are not meeting our standards. I got the whole group together, I didn’t care. It was that time and I needed to address that situation.”

A bright spot on the night was reliever Humberto Castellanos’ D-backs debut in the sixth inning.

The right-hander was claimed by the D-backs in January after he was designated for assignment by the Houston Astros. In his first relief outing, Castellanos struck out three and didn’t allow any hits or walks.

UP NEXT
The D-backs continue the series against the Brewers on Saturday. Merrill Kelly is set to take the mound for Arizona with first pitch slated for 1:10 p.m. Listen live on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

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