MILWAUKEE (AP) - Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson was direct in assessing why his team lost to the Milwaukee Brewers.
It all came down to the pitching.
Carlos Gomez hit a leadoff home run and drove in three runs to lead the Brewers to an 8-3 win over the Diamondbacks on Monday night.
“We didn’t execute pitches from the first pitch of the game,” Gibson said. “We walked seven on the night and we needed to make pitches and we couldn’t make them. We couldn’t keep the ball down. Just overall not a very good job of executing pitches.”
That included starting pitcher Mike Bolsinger (1-2), who took the loss as he gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings. It was the fourth time in his last five starts that he has been hit hard.
“I knew he was a first pitch guy,” Bolsinger said of Gomez. “But I didn’t know he would swing like that at the first pitch of the game.”
The struggles included reliever Randall Delgado, who came on in the sixth and quickly gave up four runs and four hits in one inning to let the game get away.
“I was a little bit wild and I had to pay the consequences,” Delgado said.
Martin Maldonado and Jean Segura also homered for Milwaukee, which had lost four of its last five entering the game. The Brewers still have the best record in baseball at 22-11.
Milwaukee remained the only team in baseball to not lose when scoring at least four runs, improving to 18-0 in those games.
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said he was pleased to see his team’s offense come to life. The Brewers had been struggling offensively, scoring only 10 runs in the Reds’ series.
“We’ve been talking about somewhere in there getting six, seven, eight runs and we did,” Roenicke said. “It sets up a lot of things when you get people on base. The guys did a great job.”
Matt Garza (2-3) picked up the win as he pitched six innings for Milwaukee, giving up three runs on eight hits. It was only the third time in seven starts this season that Garza has not given up at least four runs.
Arizona grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Gerardo Parra led off the game with a single and moved to second on a walk to Miguel Montero. With two outs, Aaron Hill lined a hit to right that Brewers outfielder Caleb Gindl dived for, but could not hang on to as Parra scored.
Gomez tied the score in the bottom of the first inning with his home run.
The Brewers grabbed a 3-1 lead in the second inning as Maldonado hit a two-run homer.
Arizona tied it at 3 in the third ion RBI singles by Montero and Hill, who had four singles in the game. The Diamondbacks loaded the bases with one out, but Garza struck out Alfredo Marte and Ender Inciarte to get out of the inning.
Gibson said his team continues to struggle to get a key hit.
“We didn’t cash in on that opportunity,” he said. “We were having pretty good at-bats up until that point. If you look at them, they drove the ball out of the ballpark and we had a bunch of singles and one double. I think that was kind of the difference.”
Khris Davis’ sacrifice fly in the fifth inning scored Scooter Gennett, who had doubled, to give Milwaukee a 4-3 lead.
Gomez’s bloop single in the sixth scored two runs. Segura then followed with a long home run to left field, his second of the season, to boost the lead to 8-3.
The Brewers won a challenge in the fourth when Bolsinger was called safe at first after Segura bobbled his grounder. However, the call was overturned after replays showed he was out.
NOTES: Diamondbacks SS Chris Owings was voted the National League Rookie of the Month for April. Owings paced N.L. rookies in hitting through the first month of the season, posting a .313 average. He also led rookies with five doubles, six extra-base hits and 26 hits in 28 games. … Arizona OF A.J. Pollack didn’t start for the fifth straight game due to a groin injury. He pinch hit in the sixth inning and grounded out. … RHP Marco Estrada (2-1) will start in the second game of the series for Milwaukee against Josh Collmenter (1-2) for Arizona.
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