Brewers offense held in check, bested by Diamondbacks 3-2

WP: Zach Godley (2-1)
LP: Junior Guerra (1-1)
SV: Fernando Rodney (16)

HR: Hernan Perez (9), Brandon Drury (6)

Box Score

The excitement of the day came from Lewis Brinson’s call-up. Unfortunately, it couldn’t translate to results on the field.

Early on, both offenses were kept in check. The Brewers didn’t get a baserunner until an Orlando Arcia single in the third inning. The Diamondbacks had one in the first on a Paul Goldschmidt walk, and he got second on a wild pitch, but Manny Pina made a good throw to pick Goldschmidt off second. The Diamondbacks did record a single and four walks off of Guerra in those first three innings, but none of them scored.

The Brewers only offense in the game came in the fourth inning. After Jesus Aguilar was hit by a pitch, Hernan Perez hit a two-run home run to give the Brewers an early 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks got a run back in the fifth. Eric Thames badly misplayed a ball in left field, allowing Rey Fuentes to record a triple. On the next pitch, Zach Godley hit a ground ball to Orlando Arcia, who threw home and appeared to get the runner. However, on replay, Fuentes got his hand on the plate first, and the run scored.

Junior Guerra pitched into the sixth, where it continued to go downhill. Chris Owings singled with two outs, then got to second on a bad throw from Junior Guerra on a pickoff attempt. It would end up being irrelevant, as Brandon Drury hit a two-run home run to give the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead. Overall, it wasn’t a great day for Guerra, who allowed three runs on five hits and four walks, striking out three. His command was off all night, and it was just a rough day for him altogether.

In the seventh, Josh Hader came out to make his MLB debut. It didn’t start well, with Gregor Blanco walking on five pitches. Hader only needed two pitches to induce fly outs from Daniel Descalso and David Peralta, and then issued an intentional walk to Paul Goldschmidt after a passed ball by Manny Pina. He then impressed with his last batter, striking him out on three pitches.

Unfortunately, the Brewers offense wasn’t able to do much else in the game. The Brewers only managed two more baserunners from the fifth inning on, both on walks. Domingo Santana was the only batter to reach base twice, both times on walks. Overall, the offense only managed five baserunners: two hits, two walks, and a hit by pitch.

Lewis Brinson, called up earlier today when Jonathan Villar went on the DL, made it to the game around the fourth inning. Brinson didn’t make it into the game at all, as the Brewers elected to use Keon Broxton and Nick Franklin instead as pinch hitters. He did get a nice welcome from the Brewers players, though.

The series against the Diamondbacks concludes tomorrow, as the Brewers try to win their first series since mid-May (they have lost two and split four series since then). Chase Anderson goes for his fourth strong start in a row, as his ERA has fallen from 4.25 to 2.94 and has a 1.99 FIP in June. He will face off against Robbie Ray in the afternoon game. First pitch is at 3:10 pm.