D-backs drop Crew in Godley's sterling debut
PHOENIX -- Zack Godley won in his Major League debut to lift the D-backs to an 8-3 win over the Brewers in the series opener at Chase Field on Thursday night.
"He just did a beautiful job of following the gameplan we gave him. He obviously has really good stuff," D-backs manager Chip Hale said. "He fit right in and didn't seem to be bothered by anything."
Godley pitched six scoreless innings, giving up just four hits and fanning seven batters, matching Max Scherzer's D-backs record for strikeouts in a debut. The right-hander was the first pitcher in the Modern Era (since 1900) to throw at least six scoreless innings with seven or more strikeouts and no walks in his first career game. Yasmany Tomas homered and A.J. Pollock collected three hits for the D-backs, who won for just the second time in 10 games.
"We've got a guy like that in Taylor Jungmann, who's been dominating," said Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, referring to the right-hander who will start for Milwaukee on Saturday. "Same thing -- [Godley] had good stuff. Real late-moving stuff."
Video: MIL@ARI: Godley fans Segura, sprints to the dugout
Brewers starter Mike Fiers lost for the first time in his last six outings. He gave up five runs (four earned) on eight hits in five innings, but also had 10 strikeouts. Ryan Braun hit a three-run home run in the ninth for the lone Brewers runs.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Getting some room to breathe: The D-backs used a three-run fourth inning to push their lead to 4-0. With one out, catcher Oscar Hernandez drove in a run with a single to center, the first RBI of his career. Two batters later, Ender Inciarte drove in a run with an RBI single and a second run scored on the play on a throwing error by Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez. The D-backs tacked on another run in the fifth on an RBI single by Aaron Hill.
Video: MIL@ARI: Hernandez singles to center, scoring Tomas
Double digits: Fiers recorded his final six outs via strikeouts to reach double digits for the sixth time in his career, and all of those deep counts pushed him to 101 pitches in only five innings. Fiers struck out the side in each of his final two innings of work -- including a whiff of the dangerous Paul Goldschmidt in the fifth inning -- but also surrendered four runs in those frames on five hits and a walk. One of Arizona's three runs in the fourth inning was unearned because of an error charged to Brewers third baseman Hernan Perez. More >
"I think they earned their runs," Fiers said. "They hit with runners in scoring position and made it tough on me."
Video: MIL@ARI: Fiers fans 10 over five innings pitched
Tomas' pool shot: Tomas hasn't showed the power many thought he would when the club signed him this past offseason, but he blasted his sixth homer of the season into the swimming pool in right-center field to put the D-backs up 1-0 in the second. Tomas had been in a bit of a slump, batting .179 in his last seven games entering Thursday.
Video: MIL@ARI: Tomas drills a solo smash to right-center
Parra scare: Hours after the Brewers traded Aramis Ramirez to the Pirates, another player on the block had an injury scare. Left fielder Gerardo Parra fell to the dirt after being struck in the left knee by a Godley slider in the sixth inning and drew a visit from head athletic trainer Dan Wright. After a few tense moments, Parra remained in the game.
"When it [happened], I thought it was something big," Parra said. "But it's nothing bad. I'm ready to play [Friday] for sure."
Video: MIL@ARI: Parra hit on the leg, remains in the game
QUOTABLE
"I think if you have doubt going into it, then things are going to go wrong for you. I just try to have confidence and go out and throw each hitter the same way," -- Godley, on his approach in his first Major League start
Video: MIL@ARI: Godley's parents excited to watch his debut
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Brewers reliever Corey Knebel continued the strikeout binge that Fiers started. When Knebel worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning, Milwaukee pitchers had struck out the side in three consecutive innings. When Knebel struck out Tomas in the seventh, the Brewers had recorded 10 consecutive outs via strikeouts. But the D-backs scored five runs in the same span.
Video: MIL@ARI: Knebel fans Inciarte to strike out the side
WHAT'S NEXT
Brewers: Jimmy Nelson will aim to continue a strong string of starts when he takes the mound Friday night against Arizona. Nelson is 4-1 with a 3.09 ERA in his last five starts, and has held opponents this season to a .252 batting average.
D-backs: Patrick Corbin heads to the mound for the second game of the series on Friday at 6:40 MST. Corbin is 1-2 with a 4.80 ERA in three starts since returning from Tommy John surgery that had sidelined him since 2013. The D-backs left-hander gave up two runs in five innings against the Giants last time out, suffering his second straight loss.
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