Brewers 1, Diamondbacks 0: Chacin and bullpen keep Arizona's bats in the deep freeze

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

You don't have to score many runs these days to beat the offense-starved Arizona Diamondbacks.

One was enough on Tuesday night at Miller Park.

The teams continued to move in opposite directions as the Milwaukee Brewers came away with a 1-0 victory over Arizona, which lost for the 12th time in 13 games. Over that stretch, the Diamondbacks have scored a total of 24 runs, or 1.85 per game.

The Brewers won for the ninth time in 12 games to go 11 games over .500 (30-19) for the first time. And they did it without manager Craig Counsell making it to the end of the game. Counsell was ejected for arguing ball-strike calls with umpire Angel Hernandez in the ninth.

Counsell raced onto the field to prevent closer Corey Knebel or catcher Manny Pina from being ejected after Hernandez called what appeared to be an obvious strike three on Arizona's Jake Lamb ball four.

BOX SCORE: Brewers 1, Diamondbacks 0

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Right-hander Jhoulys Chacín started for the Brewers and pitched five shutout innings, allowing two hits and four walks with six strikeouts. He did not get a decision but lowered his earned run average to 2.28 over his last eight starts.

The Brewers' superb bullpen took it from there, with Matt Albers, Josh Hader (two innings) and Corey Knebel covering the remaining four innings. Knebel notched his second save in two days against the Diamondbacks.

Chacín had to work to escape the first inning without damage. With two down, Jake Lamb doubled to center on a drive that eluded Lorenzo Cain, who crashed into the padding, and Paul Goldschmidt drew a walk before Daniel Descalso popped out to third.

Ketel Marte led off the second with a single to center but let Chacín off the hook by trying to stretch it into a double and getting thrown out by Cain. A leadoff walk by David Peralta in the third was erased when Chris Owings grounded into a double play.

Meanwhile, right-hander Matt Koch was mowing through the Brewers’ lineup with no difficulty whatsoever. He put down the first 11 hitters before Cain lined a single to left with two down in the fourth. Travis Shaw worked Koch for a nine-pitch walk but centerfielder Jarrod Dyson saved his pitcher by racing back to the wall and making a leaping catch to rob Domingo Santana of a three-run homer.

Koch, who was tagged for four homers and eight runs in 4 1/3 innings by the Brewers last week in Phoenix, surrendered a leadoff double in the sixth by Ji-Man Choi, followed by a walk to Cain. When the runners moved up on Shaw’s grounder to short, Arizona manager Torey Lovullo summoned lefty Jorge De La Rosa to face the right-handed-hitting Santana.

That might have seemed like a strange match-up but Santana was 4-for-41 (.098) against lefties. He didn’t wait, however, lining the first pitch from De La Rosa to deep left for a sacrifice fly and 1-0 lead.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

DAY OF REST FOR AGUILAR: At the start of the season, one of the questions was how Counsell would find at-bats for backup first baseman Jesús Aguilar. He became a regular player after injuries to Eric Thames and Ryan Braun, however, and finally was given a day of rest. “Jesús has been incredible in the last 10 days,” Counsell said. “I wanted to get him a day off. He’s going to have a bunch of games moving forward. Jesús has been the guy that’s done the heavy lifting. He’s hitting the way the best hitters in the league are going to hit.”

CAIN DROPS TO THIRD: Aguilar had been batting third in Braun’s absence and Counsell did not want to plug Choi in that spot because it would have stacked up three left-handed hitters with Christian Yelich and Shaw. So, he dropped Cain from first to third even though he has been doing a great job leading off, with a .383 OBP, 29 runs scored, 45 hits, 28 walks and 10 stolen bases. “It gives us some better options later in the game,” Counsell said.

DECISION TIME COMING FOR BRAUN: Braun is eligible to be activated from the DL on Thursday and Counsell said the team should have a better idea Wednesday how realistic that is. Braun, sidelined with mid-back tightness, took part in pre-game workouts Monday and Tuesday and will be reassessed Wednesday. “(Monday) was a good day,” Counsell said. “We’ll try to have another good day today and tomorrow we’ll have a better idea of a timetable.”

BACK IN FAMILIAR TERRITORY: When closer Corey Knebel got the final three outs Monday of the 4-2 victory over Arizona, it marked the first time he was given a save opportunity since suffering a hamstring injury on the first home stand that landed him on the DL for five weeks. The rest of the bullpen covered for Knebel in strong fashion, so Counsell stopped short of saying Knebel would get every ninth-inning save opportunity going forward. “Corey working at the end of the game makes sense for us but with Josh (Hader) we’ll consider other things, too,” Counsell said. “I don’t see the need to state that job. I don’t understand why we would, with what we’ve got going and how it’s worked so far.”

BOB BUHL TO BE HONORED: The Brewers and the Milwaukee Braves Historical Association will induct former pitcher Bob Buhl into the Braves Wall of Honor on Thursday at noon, in a ceremony open to the public. The wall is located at the Hot Corner entrance to Miller Park. Buhl, who died in 2001, went 109-72 with a 3.27 ERA in 282 games (220 starts) for the Braves from 1953-’62, including an 18-7 record for the ’57 World Champions.

RECORD

This year: 30-19

Last year: 26-23

ATTENDANCE

Tuesday: 27,065

This year: 681,075 (32,432 avg.)

Last year: 585,081 (27,861 avg.)

COMING UP

Wednesday: Brewers vs. Diamondbacks, 12:10 p.m. Milwaukee LHP Brent Suter (3-3, 4.72) vs. Arizona RHP Zack Godley (4-3, 3.78). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: 620-AM.