PHOENIX (AP) — Pinch-hitter Tyler Saladino dashed around the bases for an inside-the-park home run after Arizona center fielder A.J. Pollock was injured diving for the ball, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the slumping Diamondbacks 7-2 on Monday night.
🚨 Inside-the-parker. 🚨 pic.twitter.com/N9if93RiIE
— MLB (@MLB) May 15, 2018
Pollock dived for Saladino’s line drive in the ninth inning, missed and rolled over his glove hand. He sat in center favoring his left arm while Saladino slid head-first for the 28th inside-the-park homer in club history. A trainer led Pollock off the field.
Jonathan Villar homered and scored three runs for Milwaukee, and Arizona lost its sixth straight.
Junior Guerra (3-3) allowed two runs and walked four, and the Brewers’ bullpen finished up with three scoreless innings.
The Brewers went ahead 5-2 in the ninth on Villar’s second home run of the season, then tacked on two more with two out on Saladino’s sprint.
The Diamondbacks remain in first place in the NL West but have seen their lead shrink from six to two games since the beginning of the month.
Milwaukee has won four of five. Josh Hader lowered his ERA to 1.44 with two scoreless innings.
Christian Yelich singled off reliever Andrew Chafin with one out in the seventh, driving in Manny Pina to break a 2-2 tie. After Jimmie Sherfy walked the bases loaded, Santana’s fly ball to right made it 4-2.
Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin (4-1) was charged with four runs on six hits and struck out eight.
Villar, who wasn’t in the lineup until Ryan Braun was scratched before the game, had three hits.
Orlando Arcia, the No. 8 hitter, delivered a two-out, two-run double off Corbin to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
The Diamondbacks didn’t get a hit off Guerra until Goldschmidt’s double in the fourth, when Arizona scored twice to tie it at 2. Daniel Descalso scored when Steven Souza Jr. doubled down the left-field line to make it 2-1.
Goldschmidt then trotted home on Nick Ahmed’s sacrifice fly.
Goldschmidt nearly had his first home run since April 15, but his two-out fly ball to right landed in Lorenzo Cain’s glove just in front of the fence to end the the fifth inning.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Brewers: Braun was in the original lineup as the left fielder Monday but was scratched with right mid-back tightness. … 1B Eric Thames is spending the three-game series at the team’s spring training facility in Phoenix doing rehabilitation on his injured left thumb.
Diamondbacks: RHP Braden Shipley (elbow) will throw a bullpen session Tuesday. … RHP Randall Delgado (oblique) will throw long toss Tuesday and a bullpen session Wednesday. … LHP Robbie Ray (oblique) threw 90 feet Monday, and 3B Jake Lamb (shoulder) continues his rehab assignment with Class A Visalia. … RHP Shelby Miller (recovery from elbow surgery) will make another extended spring training start this week.
UP NEXT
Brewers: RHP Jhoulys Chacin (3-1, 4.00 ERA) faces Arizona on Tuesday. The Brewers are 7-2 in his starts this season, with five straight wins.
Diamondbacks: RHP Zack Greinke (3-2, 3.70 ERA) is 1-3 in six starts against Brewers in his career. He’s 15-1 at home since last year.
