Brewers use homers to knock off Diamondbacks
MILWAUKEE -- Hernan Perez and Kirk Nieuwenhuis homered while Zach Davies stuck out five to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday afternoon at Miller Park.
Davies (8-4) got off to a rocky start, allowing a pair of first-inning runs on ground-rule doubles by Phil Gosselin and Yasmany Tomas.
He settled in after that, retiring six in a row and facing just one over the minimum through the sixth inning.
The Brewers tied the game in the third, when Scooter Gennett reached on a two-out single and scored when Perez crushed a 458-foot home run to center -- the second-longest home run this season at Miller Park.
Ray retired the next seven Milwaukee batters, striking out the side in the fifth, but ran into trouble in the sixth, allowing a one-out single to Perez and a walk to Chris Carter.
He struck out Nieuwenhuis for the third time but Martin Maldonado followed with a base hit to left, scoring Perez, putting the Brewers ahead 3-2 and chasing Ray.
Keon Broxton kept the inning going, slapping a full-count slider to left for a bases-clearing double off Enrique Burgos, who got Davies to ground out to end the inning.
All five Milwaukee runs were charged to Ray (5-10), who struck out a career-high 11 but allowed five hits and a pair of walks over 5 2/3 innings of work.
The first three Arizona batters reached in the seventh, bringing Davies' day to an end. Will Smith struck out pinch hitter Jake Lamb and allowed an RBI single to Michael Bourn but got out of the inning and the Diamondbacks made it a 5-4 game in the eighth, adding a run on Rickie Weeks' RBI single against Tyler Thornburg.
Nieuwenhuis' solo shot in the eighth provided some breathing room for Jeremy Jeffress, who worked a perfect ninth to earn his 24th save of the season and first since July 5.
NOTES: LF Ryan Braun was a late scratch from Milwaukee's starting lineup because of tightness in his right side. Ramon Flores started in place of Braun, who had an 11-game hitting streak snapped Wednesday night. ... Diamondbacks OF David Peralta will rejoin the team Friday in Los Angeles, manager Chip Hale said. Peralta has been out since June 14 with a sore back. In 41 games this season, he batted .259 with four home runs, seven doubles and 15 RBIs. ... 3B Jake Lamb, limited by a sore left hand, took batting practice for the first time in four days. Hale was optimistic that Lamb would be able to return to the lineup sometime this weekend. ... Brewers manager Craig Counsell held SS Jonathan Villar out of the lineup on Thursday. Villar was pulled after committing two errors and a baserunning mistake in the first two innings of Milwaukee's 8-1 loss Wednesday night.