Yovani Gallardo sparks as Milwaukee Brewers defeat Arizona Diamondbacks 4-1 - MLB Playoffs
Milwaukee Brewers’ starting pitcher, Yovani Gallardo had a remarkable day with the ball as he pitched eight innings and struck-out nine batters with an ERA of 1.13 in the Brewers’ 4-1 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 1 of the five game playoff
series at Miller Park, Milwaukee on October 1.
During the first three innings, the pitchers outshined the batters with their superb throwing. Willie Bloomquist singled to centre-field but Aaron Hill popped out and Miguel Montero ground out to the pitcher without taking runs. Bloomquist was thrown out
at home plate when Justin Upton drove towards left-field. Similarly, Brewers’ right-fielder, Corey Hart and Nyjer Morgan both flied out while Ryan Braun popped out at the bottom of the first inning.
Rickie Weeks walked and Jerry Hairston Jr. reached third base on an infield single but Prince Fielder struck-out, Yuniesky Betancourt popped out and Jonathan Lucroy lined out without adding any run for the Brewers during the second inning. Gallardo popped
out, Hart ground out and Morgan struck-out at the bottom of the third.
Brewers got off the mark at the bottom of fourth inning and took a 1-0 lead. Braun posted the first run for Brewers when Hairston Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to centre-field. Lyle Overbay lined out while Ryan Roberts and Gerardo Parra both grounded out without
scoring runs at the top of the fifth. Gallardo gave away one run, four hits, one home-run, one walk and one earned run on his 106 pitches.
Gallardo said, “It was tough for me seeing the ball coming back, just having the sun there in the background. I was just hoping Luc didn't throw one at my face. When you have the lead, for myself, I was just going to keep going out.”
In the sixth inning, Betancourt added a single run to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead when Lucroy singled off left-field. The batters continued to raise the lead for Brewers and gave them a competitive 4-0 lead at the end of the seventh inning. Fielder struck
a two-run homer (374 feet) towards right-field and Braun posted the final run for Milwaukee.
On the other side, Diamondbacks were able to add just one run during the eighth inning to reduce their lead 4-1. Roberts hit a solo homer (422 feet) towards centre-field to keep the Diamondbacks alive. However, Arizona faced a straight loss in the series
opener of the five-game series at Milwaukee.
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