Diamondbacks Series Recap: vs. the Brew Crew

Jun 18, 2014; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Cody Ross (7), shortstop Chris Owings (16) and starting pitcher Daniel Hudson (41) dump water and sports drink bottles on center fielder Tony Campana (19) in celebration after Campana hit a RBI single in the 9th inning to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

With the way this team has been playing as of late, when I saw the schedule for this week’s homestead I knew the results wouldn’t be very good. First the Brewers, the leader in the N.L Central with a great pitching staff, and then the Giants the best team in baseball. We’ll it started out just as I thought. The Snakes managed to win one of four against the Brewers.

Game 1: Brewers-9 Dbacks-3

Brandon McCarthy‘s bad luck continued on Monday night in the opener of the four game set with the Brewers. He did everything right in this outing. He stayed away from the big inning, and he kept his team within striking distance of the first place Brewers. He pitched seven innnings allowing only 3 earned runs and left the game tied.

Despite all of this he left with the same record by the time the game was over. The story of this game was the bullpen’s late collapse. Joe Thatcher did fine setting down the first two he faced, and then Gibby brought in Harris. Harris struggled with his command. He gave up back to back RBI hits after a mound visit to Aramis Rameriez and Khris Davis giving the Brew Crew a three run lead.

Then in the 9th inning, struggling reliever J.J Putz who was designated for assignment yesterday allowed three earned runs to push his era t0 9.24.

Game 2: Brewers-7 Dbacks-5

Once again the same story that plauged the Dbacks in game 1 hurt the team in game 2. The Snakes held the lead for 6 innings going into the top of the seventh, but then things fell apart. After Mike Bolsinger worked the front 6 and a third allowing just three earned runs, Gibson brought in Evan Marshall who gave up a single, and a double before hitting Ryan Braun intentionally with a fastball.

Everybody knew it was intentional because after getting ejected Marshall walked back to a fired up Dbacks dugout, and got a fist pump from Gibby. There is a debate that is still going on about hititng Braun, but what happened next hurt. The Brewers made the Dbacks pay, when the next batter Johnathan Lucroy hit the first pitch he saw from new reliever Brad Ziegler to center field for a grand slam, that proved to be the deciding blow.

Game 3: Brewers-3 Dbacks-4

Tony Campana said that when he came back up to the big league club all he was looking to do was provide a spark. After losing two straight in the series, that is exactly what the team needed and he delivered with a walk off hit in the 9th to give the Snakes a win. For most of the night starting pitchers Matt Garza and Wade Miley were locked in a pitchers duel. Of course Campana was sent down the next day.

Game 4: Brewers-4 Dbacks-1

The Dbacks were hoping for a series split but with Yovani Gallardo on the mound that probably wasn’t going to happen. Gallardo allowed only 1 run to improve to 7-0 lifetime against the Dbacks. Chase Anderson only allowed two earned runs over 6 innings but took the hard luck loss.