Offenses trade blows but Brewers get more in, defeat Diamondbacks 8-6

WP: Zach Davies (7-3)
LP: T.J. McFarland (3-1)
SV: Corey Knebel (8)

HR: Hernan Perez (8), Jake Lamb (16)

Box Score

When the pitching staff is struggling, sometimes the offense just has to take over. That’s what happened on Friday night.

Once again, the Brewers struck first, as doubles from Domingo Santana, Manny Pina, and Jonathan Villar, along with a walk from Eric Thames, scored three runs to give the Brewers a 3-0 lead. Unfortunately, it was all given back right away, as Gregor Blanco reached based on an error by Eric Sogard, Paul Goldschmidt was hit by a pitch, and Jake Lamb hit a three run home run to tie the game at 3-3.

The game remained tied at 3-3 until the fifth inning. Once again, both offenses traded blows as Hernan Perez hit a solo home run, but David Peralta doubled and Paul Goldschmidt singled to re-tie the game at 4-4. Both starters only went five innings, and neither had a good day. Zach Davies gave up four runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts. That was slightly better than Randall Delgado, who also allowed four runs, but on seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

The Diamondbacks brought in T.J. McFarland, and the Brewers promptly got three hits off of him (Brett Phillips single, Orlando Arcia single, Jesus Aguilar double) to get a 6-4 lead. This time, the Diamondbacks would not counter in the seventh, and the Brewers added on two more runs, one on an Orlando Arcia sacrifice fly, and another on a Nick Franklin single. Unfortunately, these were given up by Oliver Drake, who gave up a triple to Gregor Blanco, then singles from David Peralta and Paul Goldschmidt to make it an 8-5 game. Jacob Barnes replaced Oliver Drake, and Barnes allowed two walks and a sacrifice fly to make the score 8-6.

Carlos Torres pitched the eighth, and started off the inning by allowing a ground-rule double to Brandon Drury. Then, facing Chris Herrmann, Jonathan Villar made a diving catch and threw to first to get the out, but was in a lot of pain afterwards. He eventually had to be carted off the field. There was no update given on the injury, so we will have to wait and see how serious it is.

Corey Knebel eventually came in to finish up the eighth inning and strand a runner on third, then pitched the ninth for his eighth save of the season, protecting the Brewers 8-6 win.

On offense, seven of the Brewers starters had a hit, with only Zach Davies and Eric Sogard going hitless in the game, though Davies didn’t have an official at-bat with two sacrifice bunts. Eric Sogard went 0-for-6 in the game, the first Brewer to be hitless in a minimum of six ABs in a game this season. Manny Pina led the offense with three hits in the game.

With the win, the Brewers remain the only team in the NL Central with a winning record, and have a two game lead in the standings. Their road trip continues tonight with another late-night game. Junior Guerra faces Zack Godley in the MLB.TV Free Game of the Day. First pitch is at 9:10 pm.