PHOENIX -- Sure, the season is not even a third of the way over. And the bulk of the intradivision games, where the results mean more, have not been played.
Still, Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson was pretty clear before Saturday’s game.
“We have to have a push," he said.
The D-backs' first shove followed quickly, a resilient 8-5 win over the Brewers in which they overcame an early three-run deficit against Zack Greinke, who does not have much trouble against the rest of the league but cannot stand the sight of the Diamondbacks.
After spotting Greinke a 5-2 lead, the D-backs put up five runs in the third inning and cruised to victory on the day they secured their catching position by signing Miguel Montero to a five-year, $60 million contract extension.
John McDonald’s three-run home run was the decisive blow against Greinke, who gave up 10 hits and three walks while getting only seven outs. It has been like that before: He gave up 11 runs in 4 1/3 innings against the D-backs on June 10, 2005, with Kansas City.
"You understand some guys are going to have your number, and you’re going to have some guy’s number," Gibson said.
Gibson talked before the game about trying to establish more of a set lineup going forward, emphasizing the importance of making up some ground on the NL West-leading Dodgers, who lead the D-backs (21-26) by 10 1/2 games.
Yet it was clear again Saturday that the full roster will be a big part of any push the D-backs make. Gerardo Parra, playing because Chris Young was given a day off, tied a career high with four hits and reached base five times, and catcher Konrad Schmidt had his first major league RBI in the big fifth inning.
McDonald was an even better case in point. Making only his third start in 12 games, with the drop in playing time due to Willie Bloomquist's red-hot bat, McDonald came up with the biggest hit of the game, capping the third inning with his second home run of the season. It came on an 0-2 breaking ball.
The rally was built on leadoff singles by Justin Upton and Jason Kubel and walks to Paul Goldschmidt and Ryan Roberts, the latter forcing in a run. Schmidt's drove in the second run before McDonald came to the plate.
The D-backs sent 11 batters to the plate in a rally that picked up starter Wade Miley and the defense, as Miley gave up four runs in the third innings on three extra-base hits and a walk, while a passed ball and an infield error made two of those runs unearned.
"That’s something that we haven’t done a whole lot of, getting guys on and getting guys in," McDonald said. "We put up some really good at-bats. It was great for us to come back and score five for Wade and get him back out there.
"He seemed to take off from there. He seemed to settle in."
Miley gave up only two hits in his last three innings, and the bullpen troika of Brad Ziegler, David Hernandez and J. J. Putz did not allow a hit in their three innings of work to keep the Brewers from mustering any sort of comeback.
It brought back memories.
"That reminds a lot of people of what we are able to do (last year) and what we need to do if we are going to be successful this year,” McDonald said.
Like Josh Collmenter last season, Miley has found a niche in the D-backs’ rotation after opening the season in the bullpen. He is 6-1 overall, 5-1 with a 2.17 ERA in his seven starts, and only Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels and St. Louis’ Lance Lynn have more wins (seven) in the National League.
Miley he also has a seven-game hitting streak that included a single and a double Saturday.
"It’s a team win. They offense picked me up. I was struggling," Miley said.
"It’s kind of a comfort when Johnny Mac hit a home run to put us up. My job was to lock it down from there and keep the game at 7-5 as long as we could."
