Brewers lose early lead, fall to D’Backs 6-2

Arizona answered in the top of the fourth. After Sproat struck out Carroll for a second time to start the inning, Del Castillo hit an opposite-field homer just over the outstretched glove of Lockridge in left field. After that, Vargas and Gurriel hit back-to-back singles on lazy, looping line drives (77 and 82 mph exit velocity), and Chris Hook was out of the dugout for a visit with runners on first and second and one out.

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The mound visit did not work. Sproat threw two sinkers low and in to Arenado; he fouled off the first, but detonated the second one, which went way out to left field (411 feet). Two of the four hits that Sproat allowed in the inning were cheap, but the runs counted just the same, Arizona had a 4-2 lead, and what started as an outstanding night for Sproat had quickly turned sour.

Milwaukee put themselves in a good position to get something back in the bottom of the fourth. Luis Rengifo led off with a double over the head of Carroll in right that bounced into the stands. But Jones unwisely burned the Brewers’ only remaining challenge before striking out and Perkins popped out behind the plate for two quick outs that didn’t advance the runner. Joey Ortiz came from behind to work a two-out walk, and Lockridge walked too, even after a 3-1 pitch that was initially called ball four was overturned by a Diamondbacks challenge. That gave Turang, who already had two doubles, a big opportunity with the bases loaded and two outs. But Turang grounded out, and the rally fizzled.

Perdomo walked to lead off the fifth. Marte hit a ground ball that looked like it might become a double play, but a miscommunication meant no one covered first base and Ortiz could return the throw to first. Still, Milwaukee erased the lead runner, but that was all for Sproat, who was pulled from the game after 4 1/3 innings. DL Hall replaced Sproat and promptly struck out Carroll, the third time he’d struck out on the night, and got Del Castillo to pop out to Rengifo in foul territory.

Sproat’s night featured highs (he struck out the first four batters of the game in extremely impressive fashion) and lows (two homers, four runs in the fourth inning). That’s sort of a microcosm of the Sproat experience thus far this season, but there are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the young right-hander.

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Contreras hit a ball pretty well to start the fifth but he hit it to the wrong part of the ballpark and it became the first out. Bauers grounded out, but a two-out walk to Sánchez spurred Arizona manager Torey Lovullo to go to his bullpen, a decision that Rodríguez—who, I noted in the game thread, is only four wins from 100 for his career—wasn’t happy about. In any case, Kevin Ginkel entered to flip Rengifo to the left side of the plate; that didn’t work, as Rengifo singled to right and sent Sánchez to third, and Pat Murphy countered the Ginkel move by pinch-hitting Garrett Mitchell for Jones. That didn’t work either, as Mitchell struck out to end the inning.

Hall kept pitching in the sixth and got a 1-2-3 inning, although not without some excitement; with two outs, Arenado hit a grounder to third, and Rengifo’s throw to first went over Bauers’ head. But Arenado tried to go to second, and the ball bounced back to Ortiz in between first and second base, and he threw to Rengifo, covering second, who tagged Arenado out (although Milwaukee had to successfully challenge the play, as Arenado was called safe on the field).