Tommy Henry Outstanding But Bullpen Walked Off Again in 10th
In this story:
Tommy Henry out pitched Brandon Woodruff for six plus innings and Sergio Alcántara drove in three runs with a homer and a sacrifice fly. However Joe Mantiply blew the save in the ninth, and Reyes Moronta couldn't record an out in the 10th inning in the Diamondbacks 6-5 loss to the Brewers.
Henry started his rookie season by going 3-2 with a 3.25 ERA in his first five starts. But his next two starts got him demoted back to AAA and his first start back on September 27th went poorly as well. In those three starts he gave up 17 runs in 13 innings. On paper this game looked like a mismatch. Woodruff had been one of the hottest pitchers in all of MLB over his last five starts, going 4-1 with a 1.36 and struck out 10 or more batters in each of those starts.
The start of the game seemed to be following the script. Woodruff retired the first six D-backs he faced, striking out three. Henry retired the side in order in the first. But then he gave up a leadoff homer to Christian Yelich to start the second. That seemed to scare him out of the strike zone, as he went to a full count before walking Andrew McCutchen. Henry quickly righted the ship however, getting Luis Urias to hit into a 6-4-3 double play started by Geraldo Perdomo. Keston Huira popped out to end the inning.
Henry cruised from there, giving up just two hits over the next 4 1/3 innings, while striking out five. He came out for the seventh inning and got Yelich swinging before giving way to Sean Poppen out of the bullpen. He left the game in line for the win and his final line was 6 1/3 innings, three hits, one walk, and three strikeouts.
The offense meanwhile did what it had to do to give Henry the win. Cooper Hummel hit a solo home run in the top of the third inning to tie the game at 1-1. In the 5th inning Corbin Carroll lead off with a triple and was immediately driven in by Alcántara with a sacrifice fly, putting Arizona up 2-1.
Alcántara was not done providing run support. Christian Walker doubled to start the seventh, and was bunted over to third base by Josh Rojas. Carroll lined out sharply to shortstop and seemed like the D-backs might have wasted an out but Alcántara did this:
Unfortunately once again a ninth inning lead was not something the bullpen could protect. Poppen did his job, recording five outs without giving up a run. But Joe Mantiply came into the game in the ninth and immediately gave up a home run to Hunter Renfroe, bringing the Brewers within two. A base hit, a lineout, a walk, a wild pitch and a ground out gave Milwaukee runners on second and third with two outs. Victor Caratini hit a grounder to Christian Walker, who has been a Gold Glove caliber first baseman all year. But not this play. He booted the ground ball and it trickled into shallow right field as both runners scored on the error to tie the game at 4-4 and send it to extra innings.
Just like yesterday in San Francisco, the Diamondbacks scored one run in the top of the 10th inning to take a one run lead. And just like yesterday the D-backs could not record even one out in the bottom of the tenth before blowing the game. This time it was Reyes Moronta, who had come in to get the final out of the ninth inning. He started the 10th by walking Omar Narvaez and then gave up a single to Will Adames. That scored Jace Peterson, who started the inning at second base, tying the game at 5-5. Renfroe then singled to left, scoring Narvaez and giving Milwaukee the victory.
A footnote is that Milwaukee was still eliminated from post season play as Philadelphia won their game to secure the final NL wild card spot.
With their 41st reliever loss of the season, the Diamondbacks tied a franchise worst record and are one behind the all time MLB record set by the 2021 Washington Nationals for most reliever losses in major league history. This was their 11th walk off loss of the season and their seventh since August 1st.
While this is yet one more gut punch loss for the Diamondbacks, the positive to be taken away is Henry's performance. He will likely contend for a rotation spot next spring training. At the same time Sergio Alcántara, who is out of options, made his case to be part of the team in 2023. Since coming back to the Diamondbacks from San Diego on July 7th he's hit .270 with five homers and 19 RBI in 111 at bats.
