Diamondbacks Offense Shut Down by Jose Quintana in Loss to Brewers

The Diamondbacks dropped the series opener 7-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers at Chase Field. Arizona hitters hardly put much pressure on Brewers starter José Quintana on the night, who blanked them for seven innings in his season debut.

"Offensively, we just didn't have a real good approach against Quintana," said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. "He's got good stuff, he's pitched a long time at this level, he knows how to land pitches. He knows what's going on at-bat to at-bat, approach to approach."

It was a very anemic night for the offense, as they only had four hits and six baserunners total on the night. While the Diamondbacks had a hit in each of the first three innings, each baserunner was erased. Randal Grichuk and Eugenio Suárez hit into inning-ending double plays, and Jake McCarthy was picked off first base. They would not get another baserunner until the seventh inning and never had more than one baserunner in any inning.

Quintana faced the minimum through six innings, as Arizona continued to beat the ball into the ground. The left-hander retired 10 batters in a row, as the Diamondbacks continued to make a lot of early-count outs. They did not get a runner into scoring position until the left-hander balked Corbin Carroll to second with two outs in the seventh inning.

With Ketel Marte, their most effective bat against lefties, on the injured list, the rest of the lineup has to pick up the slack. Lovullo has shown a little bit of concern about the team's approach against left-handers, as they've only scored one run against the last two left-handed starters they've faced.

"I don't like pull-side approaches, I like really quiet approaches that have an all-fields approach, and that's what we preach. It just looks like guys are coming off the ball, especially against left-handers, and we got to be better," Lovullo said.

The weak offensive performance wasted a solid start from Eduardo Rodríguez. The veteran left-hander held the Brewers to three runs on six hits, two walks, and three strikeouts in 6.1 innings. It was the third straight Quality Start by a Diamondbacks starter, a promising sign for a starting rotation that has struggled for much of the season to date.

The Brewers opened up the scoring in the top of the fourth on a couple of well-placed ground balls getting through the infield for doubles. Rodríguez did a good job of escaping the inning without any additional scoring, inducing a foul popup to first base and a lineout to right to strand a runner at third.

The left-hander would not be as lucky in the fifth. Following back-to-back singles to open the inning, catcher Gabriel Moreno was screened on a bunt attempt by Christian Yelich, as the pitch hit him in the midsection and ricocheted away for a passed ball to advance both runners. The Brewers would capitalize on the extra bases from that play, as a pair of productive outs scored a run each to put them up 3-0.

While Rodríguez did a good job of keeping the Diamondbacks in the game, he was the victim of a lack of run support for the second straight start. In his last two starts, Arizona has only scored a total of one run.

The game was still somewhat close until the top of the ninth inning when left-hander Joe Mantiply struggled. The first four Brewers reached base and scored, turning the game into a blowout. Lovullo has minimal concern about the lefty's recent struggles on the mound.

The Diamondbacks will try to even up the series against the Brewers on Saturday. They'll send right-hander Corbin Burnes (0-1, 5.79 ERA) to face his old team while former Arizona draft pick Chad Patrick (1-0, 2.45 ERA) will go for Milwaukee. First pitch at Chase Field will be at 5:10 p.m., with the first 20,000 fans getting an Eugenio Suárez bobblehead.