Brewers: Jimmy Nelson’s great escapes power 2-1 win at Arizona
By Phil Watson
Jimmy Nelson has been plagued by poor first innings for much of the season. On Friday night at Chase Field in Phoenix, Nelson avoided major damage in the frame and went on to pitch seven shutout innings as the Milwaukee Brewers stopped a two-game skid with a 2-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Nelson (8-9) needed 31 pitches to get out of a messy first innings, but escaped unscathed.
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He surrendered a ground-rule double to Ender Inciarte and later walked Paul Goldschmidt, throwing a wild pitch to put both runners in scoring position, before striking out David Peralta and Chris Owings to get out of the inning.
Back-to-back singles by Inciarte and A.J. Pollock in the third, followed by a successful double steal, prompted manager Craig Counsell to intentionally walk Goldschmidt—who has demolished the Brewers in his career—loading the bases with one out.
Nelson got Peralta to bounce a harmless comebacker, with Nelson starting a 1-2-3 double play to again escape with no damage on the scoreboard.
Milwaukee (43-54) broke through in the sixth when Ryan Braun hammered the first pitch he saw in the inning from left-hander Patrick Corbin (1-3) over the wall in right-center for his 18th homer of the season.
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Of Braun’s 18 dingers, 14 of them have come on the road this season.
Nelson came out after seven shutout innings, allowing five runs and three walks while fanning five on 103 pitches.
Jeremy Jeffress surrendered two hits in the eighth, getting a double play in between, and left-hander Will Smith came on to strike out pinch-hitter Yasmany Tomas to end the inning.
In the top of the ninth, the Brewers got an insurance run off right-hander Brad Ziegler. Gerardo Parra, hitting for Khris Davis, singled to left and moved up on a sacrifice by Hernan Perez.
Parra went to third when Scooter Gennett, batting for Hector Gomez, bounced to second. With pinch-hitter Shane Peterson at the plate, batting for Smith, Ziegler let loose a wild pitch that allowed Parra to score, giving the Brewers a 2-0 lead.
It turned out to be big.
Owings tripled off Francisco Rodriguez to open the bottom of the ninth and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Nick Ahmed. Rodriguez got Wellington Castillo to bounce out to end the game and record his 22nd save of the season.
It’s Rodriguez’s 27th straight save conversion, dating back to last season.
Arizona (44-51) wasted a tremendous effort by Corbin, who allowed just Braun’s homer in seven innings. He allowed four hits and struck out 10.
“I’m not letting the stuff that happened before affect me,” Nelson told MLB.com. “Not trying to do too much. Not trying to go out there and paint corners and strike everybody out, just throwing to my strengths and letting the defense work.”
Nelson has an 8.10 ERA in the first inning of his 20 starts. His ERA outside of the first inning is 3.17.
He is 5-1 in his last six starts, with a 2.54 ERA and 1.128 WHIP in 39 innings, striking out 32.
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Jonathan Lucroy had three of Milwaukee’s six hits in the contest and is now hitting .251 for the season.
The Brewers send right-hander Taylor Jungmann (5-1, 2.04 ERA) to the mound Saturday at 7:10 p.m. Central against right-hander Rubby De La Rosa (7-5, 4.83).
It will be the rookie’s first career appearance against the Diamondbacks. In his last start on Sunday, Jungmann allowed just one run on five hits in seven innings with five strikeouts in a 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
De La Rosa made his lone career start against the Brewers at Miller Park on May 29, allowing four runs on six hits in five innings while fanning four and taking a no-decision in a 7-5 victory.
His last time out on Monday, De La Rosa allowed a run on five hits in seven innings with five walks and one strikeout in a 3-1 win over the Miami Marlins.
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