Grit Index: Corbin, five-man relief effort help D-backs survive Brewers

The Arizona Diamondbacks hung on to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 on Friday night at Chase Field. With the win, Arizona has now beaten Milwaukee five straight times, which ties a franchise record.

The story of the night was once again starter Patrick Corbin. He earned his eleventh win of the season, working 6 2/3 impressive innings of work while giving up seven hits, two walks and striking out 10. He gave up his only run in the first inning due to an error, a sacrifice bunt and a walk but settled in nicely after that. The 10 punch-outs ties a career high for the young star who’s headed to the All-Star game next week.

The D-backs offense continues to struggle as they try to find a way to scratch some runs across. Friday, they recorded four hits and were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position but were able to put two on the board due to errors by the Brewers. The hits came from Adam Eaton, Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Ross and Cliff Pennington.

The bullpen continues to be a work in progress as well. Manager Kirk Gibson had to use five pitchers for the final 2 1/3 innings with Will Harris, J.J. Putz, Tony Sipp, Heath Bell and David Hernandez.

The play of the game came in the eighth with bases loaded and two outs with Bell on the mound. He gave up a shot to center field and A.J. Pollock made a diving catch worthy of a web-gem to end the inning and keep the D-backs’ lead intact.

David Hernandez was the closer of choice Friday night. He said he was told before the game the he should be ready for that role, and he was. Hernandez pitched a solid 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts to get his second save of the season.

The Good:

Patrick Corbin is the first D-backs pitcher with at least 10 strikeouts in back-to-back games since Dan Haren and Max Scherzer in 2009. He’s the first left-hander to accomplish the feat since Randy Johnson in 2004.

The Bad:

The bad was the fact that it took five guys out of the bullpen to get the job done and finish off the victory. Manager Kirk Gibson mentioned that he was going to use relievers based on matchups, but after Corbin left the game in the seventh, they allowed four bases runners in 2 1/3 innings.

Noted:

• First baseman Paul Goldschmidt currently has a nine-game hitting streak going.

• After a victory against the Brewers Friday night, they need just one more win to reach 50 before the All-Star break. It would be the fifth time in club history they reached the half-century mark before the break. They also did it in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

He Said It:

“‘Get your a**going,’ that’s what I was saying. He got the job done, that’s one of the reasons why he’s out there, and he covers a lot of ground. We know we’re going to cover as much ground as we can and really all three of them have good arms as well.” — Kirk Gibson on what he was thinking when Martin Maldonado hit a line drive to center field with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth and A.J. Pollock came up with the big catch.

Up Next:

The D-backs return to action at Chase Field on Saturday to play the Brewers in third game of their four-game series. Arizona rght-hander Randall Delgado will be opposed by Milwaukee right-handerKyle Lohse. Delgado is 1-3 this season with a 3.82 ERA. He’s making his sixth start of the year with the D-backs and 30th of his career. He’s 1-3 in his last four starts with a 3.75 ERA but has received zero runs of support in three of his last four starts. This will be his first ever appearance against Milwaukee.

First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. and can be heard on Arizona Sports 620.

Follow @AZSports