D-backs suffer double whammy in loss to Phillies
PHOENIX -- Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard walked with the bases loaded to force in the winning run in the ninth inning when the Phillies' compounded Arizona's loss of ace Zack Greinke with a 4-3 victory over the Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Tuesday.
Pinch-hitter Jimmy Paredes doubled to open the ninth inning off Brad Ziegler (2-3) and scored on a single by Andres Blanco to tie the game at 3.
Odubel Herrera singled to right to send Blanco to third and Peter Bourjos walked to load the bases. Ziegler struck out Maikel Franco to bring up Howard, who walked on a 3-2 pitch.
Ziegler has failed to convert two of his last three save opportunities after setting a franchise record with 43 straight.
Greinke, who is 10-3 and had won his last seven decisions, left the game before the start of the third inning with left oblique muscle tightness. Greinke spoke to home plate umpire Pat Hoberg after throwing several warmups pitches and then summoned manager Chip Hale and trainer Ken Crenshaw to the mound.
Greinke ran into the dugout and returned to the mound to throw another warmup pitch in front of Hale and Crenshaw before leaving. He threw 35 pitches, including first-pitch strikes to all 10 Phillies he faced.
Jenmar Gomez pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 21st save. Hector Neris (2-3) got the win.
Jake Lamb gave Arizona 3-2 lead with a bases-empty homer in the seventh inning, his 16th homer of the year.
Maikel Franco's two-out homer in fifth inning, his 13th, gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead before Yasmany Tomas tied the game with a 460-foot homer, his 13th, in the last of the sixth.
Welington Castillo had three hits, and Lamb, Tomas and Jean Segura had two for the Diamondbacks (36-44), who have lost four in a row.
Franco and Freddy Galvis had two hits for Philadelphia (34-45), which has won four of six. The Phillies won their first series in 13 after going 0-10-2 in their last 12.
Greinke's steak of 106 consecutive regular-season starts could be in jeopardy. He has not missed a start since early in 2013, when suffered a fractured collarbone while with the Dodders after being tackled on the mound by San Diego's Carlos Quentin on April 11, 2013, after Quentin was hit by a pitch.
Philadelphia starter Jerad Eickhoff gave up seven hits and two runs in five-plus innings. He struck out six and walked, one intentionally.
Galvis, Cesar Hernandez and Eickhoff hit two-out singles off Greinke in the top of the second for a 1-0 lead.
Greinke drove in the Diamondbacks' first run with a bases-loaded, one-out sacrifice fly in the second inning to tie the game at 1.
Franco's homer off Randall Delgado with two outs in the fifth inning made it 2-1.
Delgado worked a season-high three innings in relief of Greinke, who had won seven straight decisions and was 10-1 with a 2.96 ERA in his previous 12 starts after giving up 11 runs in his first two.
NOTES: Arizona and the Chicago Cubs were the two teams with three position players in the top 11 in the NL in Wins Above Replacement through Monday. The Diamondbacks are 1B Paul Goldschmidt (3.4), 2B Jean Segura (2.5) and 3B Jake Lamb (1.1). The Cubs are 3B/OF Kris Bryant (3.1), CF Dexter Fowler (2.6) and 2B Ben Zobrist (2.6). ... Arizona Double-A LHP Anthony Banda and Phillies Double-A OF Dylan Cozens were named Tuesday to the U.S. team for the Futures Game, and Phillies Double-A RHP Ricardo Pinto was named to the World team. Cozens, a second-round pick in 2012, hit his 20th homer Monday. ... LHP Robbie Ray, removed from Monday's start with a blood blister on his left middle finger, is expected to make his next scheduled start Sunday. ... Arizona RHP Jake Barrett and Philadelphia 1B Tommy Joseph were Little League teammates in the Phoenix area and opposed each other in the 2009 Arizona Class 5A-2 state championship game.