PHOENIX (AP) - This season already has a bounce-back feel for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
They got their fourth come-from-behind victory in five games Friday night, rallying behind Paul Goldschmidt’s two-run double to charge back from three down and beat the Cleveland Indians 7-3 on Friday night.
Goldschmidt’s go-ahead double came during a five-run fifth inning. Arizona is 4-1, with three victories after trailing by three runs.
“It’s nice to play downhill baseball from the first inning and that’s what we’re looking to do,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “But anytime you win a game, it doesn’t matter how you do it. We’re going to celebrate it and feel it and touch it and enjoy it and come out and try and do it again tomorrow.”
The Indians lost their first game after a three-game sweep at Texas earlier in the week.
Arizona got four runs in the fifth off Josh Tomlin (0-1) after a single and hit batter. Tomlin struck out the next two hitters, but Goldschmidt lined a double into left-center field to give the Diamondbacks a 4-3 lead over the defending AL champions.
“Once they got it rolling (in the fifth), we just couldn’t finish the inning,” Indians manager Terry Francona said.
Jake Lamb, who had two hits and scored twice, delivered an RBI single, ending Tomlin’s night, and Yasmany Tomas greeted reliever Dan Otero with a double down the left field line. Brandon Drury added a triple to score Tomas.
“We’ve got a relentless team here that grinds out every at-bat, every pitch, every inning,” Drury said. “We get down a couple of runs early, we’re not going to panic about it.”
Tomas had two doubles and two RBIs, Drury had two hits and two RBIs and Shelby Miller (1-0) earned the win in his first outing of the season behind 5 1/3 innings. Miller, who struggled to a 3-12 mark last season, struck out seven and walked three while allowing three runs and five hits.
“I knew if I went out there and put up zeroes that we’d have a chance to win the game, or at least come back,” Miller said.
“Given what happened last year, I know that he’s very focused and energized for a positive year this year, and he deserves a lot of credit for working hard behind the scenes to make those moments happen,” Lovullo said of Miller.
Cleveland led 3-0 after the first two innings. Francisco Lindor hit his third home run in four games in the first, and Carlos Santana drove in two runs with a second-inning single.
Tomlin, a key contributor in the Indians’ run to the World Series last year, was sharp for three innings. Then Arizona scored twice in the fourth before erupting in the fifth.
The right-hander allowed six runs and seven hits while striking out six in 4 2/3 innings.
Tom Wilhelmsen and Randall Delgado turned in 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, with Delgado pitching the final two innings for the Diamondbacks.
Wilhelmsen is the fourth pitcher in team history to appear in four of Arizona’s first five games of a season.
RACKING UP RUNS
Arizona has scored 34 runs in five games, two short of the club record set in 2005 through the first five.
DANDY YANDY
Indians 3B Yandy Diaz charged and barehanded a slow bouncer and threw out Tomas at first base in the second inning.
STREAK LIVES
Drury extended his hitting streak to nine games, going back to the end of the 2016 season, with an infield single in the second inning.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Indians: IF Jason Kipnis (right shoulder inflammation) is headed to Double-A Akron to play as designated hitter and at second base Sunday and Monday before any decision on when he’ll be activated from the 10-day disabled list.
Diamondbacks: Miller was hit by a Tomlin pitch in the fifth, which helped open the door for Arizona’s five-run outburst. He said he was hit in the armpit but was fine.
UP NEXT
Indians: RHP Trevor Bauer faces his former team, the Diamondbacks, for his first start of 2017. Bauer hasn’t pitched in a game since his final spring training start on March 26.
Diamondbacks: Zack Greinke looks for his first win of 2017 in his second start of the season. Greinke is 9-9 with a 3.87 ERA in his career against Cleveland.
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