Arizona Diamondbacks 2, Milwaukee Brewers 1: Make Some Noise

According the the Bally Sports broadcast, the last time the Arizona Diamondbacks won by a score of two-to-one was 2019. It is evident that the winds are changing for the Major League ballclub, and they are getting the job done every which way this homestand. After getting destroyed by the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of eighteen-to-two in the finale of the previous series, they have held the Milwaukee Brewers to a single run and twenty three strikeouts in the first two games of this series. As a result of their strong play as of late, they now sit only 5 games off of .500 with just about a month left to play.

Tonight was another brisk pitcher’s duel resulting in a game time of two hours and fifty one minutes. Zach Davies took the mound for Arizona with the task of playing spoiler against the Milwaukee Brewers who are fighting for a playoff position. Davies has been respectfully reliable since returning from the injured list on August 1st despite being unable to complete the sixth inning.

Davies had to pitch through traffic in the second and fourth innings, but the scoring did not begin until the fifth. With his pitch count above ninety, Torey Lovullo lifted him for Kyle Nelson after giving up a single to Willy Adames, the sixth hit he had allowed on the evening. His final line was six hits, one walk, five strikeouts, and one earned run. That run scored only because Kyle Nelson struggled in his appearance and walked three batters in a row which allowed Adames to stroll to home.

No matter, because Arizona finally broke through Eric Lauer in the bottom half of that inning and scored two runs to take the lead. The Diamondbacks did not have anything going against him prior to that point with the only hit being an Emmanuel Rivera single in the second. Christian Walker and Emmanuel Rivera began the comeback with consecutive doubles to begin the bottom of the fifth. Rivera’s double tied the game, and Jake McCarthy singled him home to give Arizona a two-to-one lead. Stone Garrett kept the barrage going and singled to left field, but Lauer quickly escaped further damage with a double play and a popout to newcomer Wilmer Difo to end the inning. That strangely put the win in Kyle Nelson’s hands, undeserving as he may be.

The following innings were smooth sailing with not much in the way of offensive action for both teams. Reyes Moranta, Kevin Ginkel, Joe Mantiply, and Ian Kennedy all pitched scoreless innings to secure a guarantee of at least a series split with the Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee now sits seven and a half games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central, and they fall further outside of the Wild Card chase. Arizona is nine and a half back, and despite their spectacular play of late it would take something miraculous for them to make up that ground. However, regardless of if they can pull that off or not, and I do not believe that they can, it has been incredible to watch them on this homestand. They almost swept the Philadelphia Phillies, who do currently hold a Wild Card spot, but dropped the series finale by sixteen runs. Instead of letting that beating cause them to spiral, they put their nose to the grindstone and have taken the first two against the Brewers. Winds are changing indeed and the youth movement is here. Now if only we could find Madison Bumgarner a boat....

FanGraphs

A handful of Sedona red comments from Jim in regards to Kyle Nelson’s “win”. It is impossible to argue with this logic, so you can join the petition in the comments below. See you next weekend everyone!