The Brewers kept pitching to Paul Goldschmidt. Why?
Considering the recent hot streak from the Diamondbacks first baseman and his history at Miller Park, it didn't seem like a good idea Saturday.
After a single and a home run in his first two at-bats against Brewers pitcher Kyle Lohse, Goldschmidt again saw a more-than-hittable pitch from Lohse in the fourth inning. So Goldschmidt launched a three-run shot to give Arizona a 7-2 advantage, and the D-backs won their second game in a row, 7-3, against baseball's worst team.
Goldschmidt has six home runs in 11 career games at Miller Park. Additionally, he has 16 RBI and is 23-of-47 at the Brewers' home field.
A day after the D-backs blasted four home runs, their aggressive small ball -- which forced a few early Milwaukee miscues -- got the offense churning in the second inning at Miller Park. A well-placed bunt by Chris Owings led to a Lohse throwing error that scored Aaron Hill from second, and a hit to deep left field by Nick Ahmed allowed Owings to zip around the bases. The throw beat Owings to home plate but Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado couldn't hold on as Arizona took a 2-1 lead.
Even D-backs starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson got into the action, knocking a grounder up the middle to score Ahmed, making Arizona's lead 3-1 after the top of the second.
Like Lohse, Hellickson couldn't keep runners off the bases early on. The Brewers tacked on a second run in the third inning when a sac-fly by Elian Herrera scored Jean Segura.
But soon enough, Goldschmidt single-handedly stretched out the lead.
He launched a two-run shot off a poorly-placed Lohse slider to make it 4-2 in the top of the third and, apparently still feeling it in the fourth, gave the D-backs their final three runs, scoring Hellickson and Ender Inciarte off a Lohse fastball in the zone. The hit would end Lohse's day at just 3 1/3 innings pitched.
Hellickson quietly provided an offensive spark with two quick at-bats of one and three pitches, respectively. He had an RBI and a run, and for the year (albeit in 18 at-bats) his average sits at an impressive .278.
* Hellickson's performance on the mound wasn't pretty -- especially to start -- but he eventually settled in. The D-backs righty threw 110 pitches, and a healthy chunk of those came in the first two innings. Yet, he only allowed two runs before retiring 13 of the next 14 batters from the last out of the second inning through the second out of the sixth.
* Hellickson's performance and then a strong three-inning close by Randall Delgado allowed Hale to give his bullpen arms a break. Delgado recorded his first career save by allowing three hits and one earned run that came in the ninth inning.
8 - Delgado recorded the eighth save of three or more innings, the first to do that since Josh Collmenter in April of last year.
Goldschmidt now is tied with Miguel Montero for seventh on the D-backs' all-time home run list with 97 bombs.
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