Brewers 3, Diamondbacks 4: Rough first inning comes back to haunt

Win: Brad Ziegler (3-1)
Loss: Brandon Kintzler (1-3)

HR: Khris Davis (12)

Boxscore

Matt Garza managed to pitch 7.2 innings today while throwing 103 pitches. If you saw the first couple of innings, you might not have believed that would happen. It's not that Garza was bad at the start of the game. Rather, the Brewers' defense was.

Milwaukee only had one error on the day, technically, but it sure felt like there were several other moments in the game that could have been charged as such. Misplayed balls and miscues made it seem like Garza needed to earn extra outs often. Such was the case in the first inning. Gerardo Parra led off the bottom half of the frame with a triple that probably should have been a double were it not for a misplayed ball in right field. I believe the play was originally called an error, but was overturned later.

Chris Owings followed that up with a double that came off a diving Mark Reynolds glove. It wasn't a bad play all-in-all. But Parra would not have scored had he not reached third on the previous play. There's also a chance that Rickie Weeks could have gotten to the ball, but we never got to find out and that's questionable at best. A groundout, Weeks error and wild pitch later and runners were on the corners with one out. Aaron Hill grounded into what should have been an inning ending double play, but Weeks had a bad turn at second and Reynolds couldn't pick it, allowing a second run to score.

The Diamondbacks tacked on a third run in the third inning, but the Brewers came back to tie the game when Khris Davis launched a three run homer in the fourth, scoring Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Gomez. That would be all the offense Milwaukee would receive on the night, however.

It seemed as though the game might end up going to extra innings tied three apiece in the ninth. The Diamondbacks had other plans. After Will Smith needed just four pitches to secure the final out of the eighth in relief of Garza, Ron Roenicke decided to make a change anyway, bringing in Brandon Kintzler. The second batter of the ninth, Martin Prado, promptly doubled to put the winning run on. A David Peralta groundout moved him to third with two outs and it seemed like Kintzler might escape. However, a Tony Campana grounder snuck past Weeks to end it.

Garza ended up allowing just two earned runs on seven hits over his 7.2 innings worked. He also struck out four batters. Meanwhile, the Brewers offense managed just five hits against Wade Miley, with Davis picking up two of them. Milwaukee did also draw four walks though, two of which contributed to Lucroy reaching base three times.

Nobody was hit by a pitch.

The Brewers and Diamondbacks will play one more tomorrow. First pitch is slated for 2:40 CT.