Sedona Red Recap: Second shut-out in a row helps D-backs past Brewers

PHOENIX — Jeremy Hellickson continued the trend of great starting pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks in their four-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Hellickson’s performance in a 3-0 win Sunday gave the D-backs a 3-1 series victory.

The 28-year-old righty allowed no runs in six innings of work and picked up his seventh win of the season in front of 24,216 fans at Chase Field.

Following Rubby De La Rosa’s shut-out Saturday, Hellickson’s performance gave the Diamondbacks a consecutive shut-out for the 10th time in franchise history.

Meanwhile, the D-backs’ offense continued to give itself opportunities to score. Arizona had a base runner in every one of the eight innings.

The first crack in Brewers starting pitcher Matt Garza’s defense came in the fourth inning, on an RBI-triple by Arizona third baseman Jake Lamb. However, the D-backs failed to score Lamb after he reached third with no outs.

The real breakthrough came in the sixth inning, when Chris Owings pinch-hit for Hellickson and hit a two-RBI double to give the D-backs a 3-0 lead.

After that, it was all up to the Arizona bullpen.
Entering Sunday’s game, it had given up only 13 earned runs in 65 innings pitched since July 1, and that success carried over to Sunday.

Andrew Chafin and David Hernandez combined to retire six straight, and Brad Ziegler picked up his 17th save of the season.

THE GOOD

– Hellickson ran into trouble during the wrong parts of the Brewers lineup but showed great resiliency to get out of tough situations. The game started with a walk to Gerardo Parra and a single by Ryan Braun, but Hellickson worked out of it. Likewise, the third inning began with a single down the line by Garza and another single by Parra to put runners on first and third with no outs. Once again, Hellickson got out of trouble, retiring three straight hitters. And in the fifth inning, two runners on and one out in the middle of the order failed to faze Hellickson, who responded by retiring the next two batters.

– Aaron Hill had a wonderful diving catch in the seventh inning. The ball was hit hard on a low, below-the-belt liner by Jonathan Lucroy. That didn’t stop Hill from diving to catch the scorching line drive.

THE BAD

– Despite his extremely successful record against the Brewers, D-backs first baseman Paul Goldschmidt could not get it going early on. The MVP candidate entered Sunday’s game with a career .429 average against Milwaukee but couldn’t take advantage with runners on, grounding into a double play in the first inning and striking out with Hill on base in the third. Like many have already done this season, the Brewers took the bat out of Goldy’s hands in his third opportunity with an intentional walk.

– Another D-back with a great track record for tonight’s opposition struggled, with Hill failing to get a hit off Garza. This was a major surprise because Hill entered Sunday’s game hitting a lifetime .359 off of Garza, the fourth highest mark with a minimum of 30 plate appearances against the Brewers starter.

STAT OF THE GAME

22: A.J. Pollock has now reached base safely in a career-high 22 straight games.

HE SAID IT

“I think his offspeed stuff today was really good; changeup, breaking ball was what threw them off down at the bottom of the order, especially. He was able to get some big strikeouts.” — D-backs manager Chip Hale on Hellickson

NOTED

– Goldschmidt’s intentional walk was his 22nd of the season and his 79th overall. He leads the majors in both categories.

– Hellickson’s ERA is now 4.60. That’s the lowest it has been since April 19.

– Lamb’s multi-hit game was his second straight.

– Ender Inciarte and Pollock were the only two D-backs to record at least five hits in the series.

– Ziegler’s save was his 15th straight.

– Randy Johnson became the first Diamondback inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday. Gates at Chase Field opened early at 11 a.m. to allow fans to watch the entire ceremony live.

UP NEXT

Arizona starts a three-game series in Seattle on Monday. Lefty Robbie Ray gets the start for the D-backs, while Mike Montgomery takes the mound for the Mariners.

First pitch is slated for 7:10 p.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Ray (3-5) has allowed less than five earned runs in his 10 starts this season. He is 3-2 with a 1.35 ERA in five starts on the road. Monday will be Ray’s first chance at two wins in the same month despite his season ERA only being 2.72.

Ray is 0-1 in May, 1-4 in June and 1-3 in July.

He last faced the Mariners in 2014, when he was a member of the Detroit Tigers. In that game, he gave up four earned runs in five innings of work.

Montgomery (4-4) is coming off of three straight losses after three straight wins. He had two straight complete game shutouts in June against the Royals and the Padres. The 28-year-old was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in the James Shields deal of 2012 and was traded in March of 2015 to the Mariners.

This is Montgomery’s first season in the majors.