Lourdes Gurriel Jr. leads Diamondbacks to 2nd series win in a row

PHOENIX – Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had a day on Wednesday as the Arizona Diamondbacks (8-5) took down the Milwaukee Brewers (8-4) 7-3 in the rubber match of a three-game series at Chase Field.

In the first inning, Gurriel doubled to advance Josh Rojas from first to third. Rojas then scored on a Christian Walker groundout.

In the third inning, Gurriel opened the floodgates with a three-run homer to left field to make the game 4-0. The home run ended up being the game-winning hit as the Brewers did add three runs in the seventh.

“I know he had good pitches,” said Gurriel through team interpreter Alex Arpiza. “I went through the motions. He left me a comfortable pitch. A pitch I was able to manage and I did what I did with it.”

Gurriel’s great day at the plate backed up a solid outing by rookie righty Drey Jameson. Jameson started his first game of the season after moving to the rotation from the bullpen following a left oblique injury to Zach Davies.

Jameson threw four scoreless innings, allowing three hits, walking no batters and striking out four. He threw 54 pitches, 36 of which were strikes.

Jameson said he did not want to come out of the game and felt like he was “more into a groove” as the game progressed.

Jameson did not qualify for the win as he did not go five innings. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said he was on a pitch count.

“I knew he was going to be in that 55, 60-pitch range,” Lovullo said. “And we just didn’t want to extend him beyond that because we got to rebuild him up. We got to be a little careful.”

After Jameson’s outing was done, the D-backs used a combination of six relief pitchers to get the win. Kyle Nelson, who came in with two outs in the fifth inning, picked up his second win of the year. He pitched 1.1 innings, allowing one hit and striking out three batters.

Arizona’s win gives the D-backs their fifth win in their last seven games and they have not lost a series so far this season.

“We’re ready to compete,” Lovullo said. “We’re ready to do our job every single day. And we’re blocking out black noise and we’re putting it on us. Maybe in years past when we were young and a little immature we were more concerned about the team that was walking into the stadium or the team we’re getting ready to play on the road. But we’re putting it on us and we’re taking care of our business and I like that.”

LOVULLO EJECTED

Most of Arizona’s damage was done following an ejection of Lovullo. With one out in the top of the third inning, the D-backs manager walked briskly out of the dugout and was quickly tossed by home plate umpire Gabe Morales.

Lovullo explained why he was ejected following the game.

“I never want to get thrown out of a baseball game,” Lovullo said. “It’s never my first thought, second thought or 10th thought. Gabe is a good man. Gabe is a good umpire. But I felt like I had enough of certain calls that were made and I knew once I left the dugout that I was going to be ejected and it was a conscious decision I made – subconscious decision I made. I don’t know. I just felt like I needed to make a statement to tell him how I felt.”

Rojas spoke on Lovullo’s ejection and was all-in on his skipper getting tossed.

“It’s one of my favorite things,” Rojas said. “He’s such a like laid back guy and he’ll chirp a little bit from the dugout but he’s not a big chirper. It’s usually coming from (bench coach Jeff Banister) or one of the players so when something fires Torey up and it gets him out there and gets him ejected I love it. … I saw him go under the railing and I was excited for him to get out there.

“And I knew once he was – just with the effort he gave to get over that railing so fast, I knew he was getting tossed. So yeah, I love it. I think the guys love it. I think Drey liked it. I think Drey was getting some strikes balled on him a little bit. I think our side was getting some balls called strikes and Torey was fed up with it and gave him his piece.”

UP NEXT

The D-backs are off Thursday before beginning a three-game series with the Marlins on Friday in Miami. First pitch is scheduled for 3:40 p.m. Arizona time and can be heard on the Arizona Sports app, 98.7 and ArizonaSports.com.