Diamondbacks 3, Brewers 5: Early struggles doom Arizona

Cactus League record: 11-7-1

The Diamondbacks took the lead in the top of the first, courtesy of some two-out magic by Paul Goldschmidt, who doubled, and Mark Trumbo who drove Goldie in with a single. However, the bottom half of the inning saw the Brewers get that back and more. Starter Trevor Cahill was looking to solidify his position in the rotation, but instead began the afternoon by allowing four singles, a walk and an error to the first six batters faced, former Diamondback Gerardo Parra capping things off with a two-run single. The error was on Yasmany Tomas, who booted what could have been a double-play ball.

You can argue that Cahill was BABIP'd to death there: five balls in play, zero outs, is certainly unfortunate. And he did settle down thereafter. The second inning saw another hit and a walk, but Nick Ahmed showed how it should be done, starting a sweet double-play to keep the Brewers off the board. Another double-play ended the third, and Cahill finally worked a clean inning in the fourth. He ended the day with seven hits, two walks, three strikeouts and three runs allowed over four innings. That's a .467 BABIP (7-for-15) on the day, but his K:BB ratio this spring remains pretty meh, at 5:4 over eight frames.

Arizona got back into the game, with a two-run fourth. Like the first, this featured a Goldschmidt double followed by a Trumbo single, but it took a Tomas groundout to bring Paul home this time. A Tuffy Gosewisch single brought Trumbo home, and we were tied up. That only lasted until the first batter faced by Vidal Nuno, as every Arizona fan's favorite Brewer, Ryan Braun, homered to give Milwaukee the lead. Nuno went two innings, allowing a run on two hits with a pair of strikeouts, and the Brewers added an insurance tally in the seventh off Jake Barrett, who gave up two hits and a walk. J.C. Ramirez posted a scoreless ninth for Arizona, but our last nine hitters went down in order.

Still, Goldschmidt had a good day, with a pair of doubles raising his spring average to .296, and Trumbo's two singles leave him hitting .345 this spring. Gosewisch also had a hit and a walk, and is batting .320. Who needs Peter O'Brien? :) Tomorrow, it's even further over to the West of Phoenix, as Arizona takes on San Diego at Peoria, with Archie Bradley - recently written out of the rotation - starting for the Diamondbacks.