MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers went over a month without rallying to win any games they had trailed by multiple runs.
Now they’ve done it twice in three days.
William Contreras hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put Milwaukee ahead for good as the Brewers came back from a four-run deficit to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-5 on Tuesday night.
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This marked the biggest comeback the Brewers had produced in any of their wins this season. This rally came two nights after they erased a 2-0 deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2, the first time since May 14 they had won a game they’d trailed by more than one run.
“The really good teams win a bunch of different ways, and comebacks are a part of that,” said Milwaukee’s Jesse Winker, who hit his first homer of the season. “It just shows you have a good offense. To come back in a game, especially against a team like the Diamondbacks, who are one of the best teams in the game right now, you have to do a lot of things right. You have to do a lot of little things.”
Ketel Marte went 3 for 5 with a three-run homer and double for the NL-West leading Diamondbacks.
The Brewers fell behind 4-0 early and still trailed 5-3 when they began the seventh by loading the bases against Austin Adams (0-1) without hitting a ball out of the infield.
Luis Urías drew a leadoff walk. Blake Perkins then hit a grounder to the right side of the infield, but Marte looked over to second before making the throw to first. That pause enabled Perkins to beat the throw for an infield single.
Joey Wiemer then hit a bouncer that went of Adams’ glove. Marte managed to field the ball, but Perkins beat his throw to second. Wiemer’s hit loaded the bases and put the tying run in scoring position.
“We won that game because of Blake Perkins,” Winker said. “That’s just kind of what it takes. Him beating out his hit and then beating out Wiemer’s hit, it just changes the whole game.”
Kyle Nelson inherited the bases-loaded, no-out jam and retired Christian Yelich on a soft grounder that brought home Urías. Contreras then doubled into the gap in left-center to bring home Perkins and Wiemer.
“I was just going out there looking for a pitch up that I could put good contact on,” Contreras said through an interpreter. “He made a mistake, left me a pitch up in the middle of the zone.”
Contreras extended Milwaukee’s lead to 7-5 by scoring when Willy Adames hit into a fielder’s choice.
Milwaukee’s Hoby Milner, Bryse Wilson (2-0), Joel Payamps and Devin Williams combined for 3 2/3 innings of shutout relief. Williams worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to earn his 13th save in 14 opportunities.
After scoring six runs in the first inning of a 9-1 victory Monday at Milwaukee, the Diamondbacks took a 4-0 lead in the first two frames against Colin Rea.
“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “We just didn’t execute at the most critical time.”
Arizona scored once in the first when Corbin Carroll singled home Marte, who had doubled on a fly ball that landed just inside the left-field foul line. Marte came up again in the second and delivered a three-run shot to right to make it 4-0.
Urias’ RBI double in the third off Ryne Nelson got Milwaukee on the board. The Brewers cut Arizona’s lead to 4-3 in the fourth on Winker’s two-run homer, a 416-foot shot over the center-field wall.
Winker hit 16 1/2 homers per year from 2019-22, but this marked the first time he had gone deep since the Brewers acquired him from Seattle last December. His first homer as a Brewer came in his 140th plate appearance of the season.
“Whenever I leave here, I just kind of always tell myself there’s a lot of games left, there’s a lot of at bats and you’re kind of always a swing away,” Winker said.
Jake McCarthy’s two-out RBI infield single extended Arizona’s lead to 5-3 in the sixth before Milwaukee rallied.
UP NEXT
RHP Zac Gallen (8-2, 2.98) pitches for the Diamondbacks and RHP Julio Teheran (2-2, 1.78) starts for the Brewers as this three-game series concludes Wednesday.
TOP PHOTO: FILE – Milwaukee Brewers mascot Bernie Brewer during an exhibition spring training baseball game against the Oakland Athletics Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)