Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a go-ahead home run in his return from the injured list as the Arizona Diamondbacks recovered from giving up a four-run lead to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-4 on Friday night.
With this win, the Diamondbacks took sole possession of the NL’s second wild-card spot, moving one game ahead of the New York Mets, who lost 12-2 to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Atlanta Braves, who lost 4-3 to Miami, are three games behind the Diamondbacks and two games behind the Mets.
“It’s a good feeling, but we’ve got eight more games to go,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “No deal is done. We’ve got to go out and play our best baseball from here on out.”
The Brewers have already secured the NL Central title.
Arizona’s Ketel Marte hit his 33rd home run, setting a new career high, and also added a double and a single. William Contreras had a strong night, going 4 for 5 with a home run, while Garrett Mitchell and Joey Ortiz also homered for the Brewers.
Milwaukee fought back from a 4-0 deficit, hitting three home runs off Arizona’s ace Zac Gallen (13-6) during a four-run fifth inning before the Diamondbacks regained the lead in the sixth.
Gurriel began the sixth inning with a home run on a 1-1 pitch from DL Hall (1-2), sending the ball over the left-center wall. He had just been activated from the injured list after recovering from a strained left calf.
“It’s always a great thing after the opposite team comes and scores a few runs, if you come back and — boom — hit them back, it will shut down their momentum and actually pick up momentum on our side,” Gurriel said through a translator.
His home run sparked a three-run rally, ending with Randal Grichuk drawing a bases-loaded walk from Jared Koenig. Grichuk took a 3-2 pitch that was low, bringing in Gabriel Moreno.
“You don’t win when you give up seven,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “That’s not who we’ve been.”
Rhys Hoskins and Sal Frelick started the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back singles, bringing the tying run to the plate. However, Kevin Ginkel retired the next three batters, keeping the score at 7-4. The Brewers managed to get the tying run to the plate again in the seventh but couldn’t score.
A.J. Puk closed out the ninth for his third save in six chances.
The Brewers got back in the game during the fifth inning by hitting Gallen, who hadn’t allowed more than two home runs in any of his last 26 starts this season. Before Friday, he had given up only two home runs over his last 11 starts.
Ortiz hit a one-out home run to left-center that traveled 416 feet. After Brice Turang grounded out, Jackson Chourio reached on an infield single, and Contreras hit a 409-foot homer to center.
Mitchell followed with a game-tying blast, sending Gallen’s next pitch over the wall in left-center for a 393-foot home run.
This was the first time the Brewers had hit three home runs in one inning since Rowdy Tellez, Brian Anderson, and Mitchell did it against Max Scherzer in a 9-0 win over the New York Mets on April 4, 2023.
Gallen hadn’t given up three home runs in a game since a 5-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of last year’s NL Championship Series.
Gallen allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings, striking out five and walking one.
Brewers starter Colin Rea gave up three runs and five hits in four innings, with four strikeouts and one walk.
