Arizona's bullpen bests Brewers' bullpen in 2-1 win

WP: Archie Bradley (1-1); LP: Taylor Williams (0-1); Save: Brad Boxberger (12); Home runs: none

Sigh. A sad box score

Jhoulys Chacin and Zack Greinke locked up in a pitchers’ duel in Phoenix Tuesday night as the Arizona Diamondbacks (25-17) nipped the Milwaukee Brewers (25-18) 2-1 with an eighth inning run off of the Brewers’ “B” bullpen. The Diamondbacks had only three hits, but two walks by Brewers pitchers came across to score. Milwaukee totaled just five hits.

With the ballgame tied at one into the bottom of the eighth, the Brewers went with Taylor Williams. Williams walked the eighth hitter, Jeff Mathis, and a two strike sac bunt moved pinch runner Jarrod Dyson to second. Lefty Boone Logan was called on and retired David Peralta on a groundball to second, moving Dyson to third. Craig Counsell elected to intentionally walk Chris Owings and have Logan face former Cardinal Daniel Descalso, who pulled a single through the shift for the game-winning RBI.

The Brewers got a break in the top of the ninth when Travis Shaw’s pop-up in front of the plate was dropped by catcher John Murphy, but Shaw barely ran it out (never dropping his bat) and only made it to first base. Two outs later the game was over.

The Brewers’ run came in the top of the fourth. Christian Yelich led off the frame with a double into left center, just off of center fielder Chris Owings’ glove. One out later Travis Shaw doubled to right, and the Brewers were up 1-0.

Arizona tied it up immediately, in the bottom half of the inning. Chacin walked Descalso to lead off the inning, and Paul Goldschmidt singled him to third. Steven Souza grounded into a double play, leaving nobody on and two down, but with the game tied at one.

An odd moment occurred in the top of the sixth. With two down and runners at first and second, Domingo Santana had a 3-1 count against Greinke. Zack missed inside by a good six inches, and Santana jumped back while his bat dipped backwards. Home plate umpire Alan Porter said that Sunday had foul tipped the ball, but replays seemed pretty clear that the bat actually hit Mathis’ glove. Santana struck out swinging on the next pitch. The bases would have been loaded, but the next hitter was Jonathan Villar, who ended up 0-4 with three strikeouts, so probably nothing would have come of it. But the question remains: why was the call not challenged?

Greinke finished with six innings, four hits, one run (earned), a walk, and five strikeouts. Chacin worked seven strong innings, with just two hits and the one earned run, walking two and striking out seven. The Diamondbacks’ pen had three innings with one hit allowed, no walks, and four strikeouts.

The Brewers will try and take the series from the DBacks tomorrow afternoon, hoping for a better start from Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 8.03) than last week’s three inning, seven earned run start against the Rockies. Of course, the Brewers won that game 11-10. Arizona goes with Matt Koch (2-1, 2.43).