DBacks 3, Brewers 2: Arizona, like Justice, is Blind

Record: 13-24 On Pace: 57-105 Change on '04, '10, '13: -1/-2/-8

If they played a game and no one in Phoenix could watch it, did it still happen? I hope so, since we won.

Okay, some feelings of DOOOOOOM may have prevailed early on in this one for Diamondbacks, particularly in the bottom of the first. After wasting runners at the corners in the top of the inning, Carlos Gomez started the bottom of the inning with a bunt single. Gomez went all the way to third base on a fielding error by Martin Prado, and scored on a double play ball by Jonathan Lucroy. 1-0, Brewers, thanks to some sloppy play.

The second inning was more missed opportunities for the DBacks- it's an ongoing theme- wasting runners at the corners with one out. But Arroyo at least made it through the inning well- Jean Segura had a two out single, but he was caught stealing. Well, that came as a surprise to most of us, I think.

The top of the third went much better for Arizona. Martin Prado singled to start the inning, and Paul Goldschmidt went up and did what he does best, homering to deep left field, and giving the Diamondbacks a 2-1 lead.

And then the game got into a bit of a rhythm. DBacks would get a runner on and waste it, Arroyo would go out and keep the Brewers off the board. Fourth inning- DBacks strand Parra, Brewers hit into an inning ending double play. Fifth- DBacks strand Cody Ross and Eric Chavez, Brewers can't take advantage of a free walk. Sixth- Parra's stranded again, and the Brewers double play their way out of the inning. Seventh- Montero's stranded on third, and Arroyo goes 1-2-3.

Things finally got a little more interesting in the eighth inning- while we discussed how much more of a leash Arroyo would get, he was sent out to hit in the top of the inning, and singled to center field. Arroyo then showed off some wheels and good baserunning, going all the way to third on a wild pitch. Gerardo Parra reached on an error by Lyle Overbay that simultaneously let Arroyo come in to score, stretching that least out to 3-1.

Arroyo went out in the bottom of the eighth, giving up a lead off single before getting Segura to pop out to right. After a walk to Logan Shafer, Gibby decided that was enough, pulling Arroyo and sending in Brad Ziegler. Who then gave up a single to Rickie Weeks to load the bases. But Zieglers gonna zieg, and before you could ask what zieging is (a 12th century Germanic agricultural technique), he got Carlos Gomez to ground into a double play to end the inning.

The only noise in the top of the ninth was a single and a stolen base for Eric Chavez (really?), but again he was stranded as we went to the bottom of the inning. Addison Reed came in for the save and made the game a little more interesting than we wanted, giving up a lead off double to Scooter Gennett. Jonathan Lucroy lined out to right, advancing Scooter to third, and he came in to cut the lead to one on a Lyle Overbay sacrifice fly. But Mark Reynolds came to the plate with the game on the line and did what we saw him do so often- strike out, that is, not hit a home run- and the game was saved, letting Arizona leave Milwaukee with win and a series victory.

Also of interest on the WPA chart is Gerardo Parra, who managed 0.0% in five at-bats. We stranded far too many runners on base- thirteen, to be precise, but Arroyo and the bullpen managed to do just enough to earn the win for Arizona. It wasn't pretty- well, it didn't sound pretty, at least- but a W is a W.

A fairly busy afternoon in the comment thread for a morning game that wasn't on TV in Arizona. DBacksSkins led the comment count, with JoeCB1991 and preston.salisbury in second and third. Also piping up in the peanut gallery were AzDbackfanInDc, Circa4life, Clefo, DeadmanG, EzioExManAZ, GODSCHMIDT, GuruB, Jim McLennan, John Baragona, Makakilo, PR151, SenSurround, TolkienBard, Turambar, backtocali, cheese1213, dbrowell, dsadbacks2001, ex-distancerunner, frienetic, gamepass, hotclaws, kishi, onedotfive, and txzona.

So a series win against a relatively respectable opponent, and now the team takes a day off tomorrow before heading to the south side of Chicago to dabble in some interleague play against the White Sox. Well, at least they've got the time to travel all those miles.