Diamondbacks ride quick offensive flurry to victory over Milwaukee Brewers

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks rode a fifth-inning flurry to a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.

If you blinked, you missed it. All the scoring, for both teams, came in the fifth inning.

The Brewers (69-62) had all the traffic on the basepaths early, but D-backs (63-68) starter Zach Davies worked out of trouble multiple times. However, after he allowed a two-out single to Willy Adames in the fifth, manager Torey Lovullo went to lefty Kyle Nelson.

Nelson struggled to find the zone. He walked Rowdy Tellez, Hunter Renfroe and Andrew McCutchen on 15 total pitches. The final ball to McCutchen plated Adames and gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead.

The final line for Davies was 4.2 innings, six hits, one earned run, one walk and five strikeouts. He earned a no-decision.

Milwaukee’s lead evaporated much quicker than it materialized. Christian Walker and Emmanuel Rivera (3-for-3 with an RBI) opened the bottom of the fifth with doubles, then Jake McCarthy lashed a single to center field. Three batters, three batted balls over 100 mph and D-backs took a 2-1 lead in the blink of an eye.

“He’s come in and slugged right away,” D-backs third baseman Josh Rojas told reporters of Rivera. “That was a great addition to this team. That was something we needed — we needed another power bat in the lineup.”

Brewers starter Eric Lauer pitched well. He faced the minimum through four innings and finished the night with two earned runs allowed in 6.2 innings. He lost it for a four-batter stretch and it was enough for him to pick up the loss.

Hard contact plays REALLY well.

(Difo with a lolbaseball moment)#DBacks pic.twitter.com/eH5T270g0Z

— Jordan Leandre (@JordanLeandre55) September 3, 2022

Other than a seventh-inning threat that ended with Corbin Carroll stranding two in scoring position, that flurry was it for the Diamondbacks’ offensive threats.

There wasn’t a lot of excitement in this ballgame despite 15 combined hits between the teams. The Brewers had baserunners in every inning but the eighth where Joe Mantiply recorded two strikeouts and a soft groundout.

“Today was a strange game,” Brewers manager and former D-back Craig Counsell told reporters. “We got a bunch of base hits, bunch of singles, but didn’t really have a ton of guys in scoring position.”

Ian Kennedy shut the door in the ninth, notching his 10th save of the season. The D-backs bullpen was strong, going 4.1 innings, allowing three hits, three walks and seven strikeouts. However, after Nelson, the bullpen went four innings and allowed three hits, no walks and six strikeouts.

“It’s been a challenging test and I think we’re passing, we’re doing a good job,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told reporters. “We’re a good baseball team when we do things like we know how to do them.”

UP NEXT

The D-backs look to secure the four-game series win on Saturday at 5:10 p.m. on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

Arizona will send out LHP Madison Bumgarner (6-13, 4.87 ERA) against Milwaukee RHP Corbin Burnes (9-6, 2.84 ERA), the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner.