MILWAUKEE (AP) Chase Anderson needed a slight tuneup in the first inning and then kept on motoring.
Anderson got all the run support he needed as Travis Shaw, Domingo Santana and Lorenzo Cain homered off Zack Greinke, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2 on Monday night.
Anderson (4-3) threw six strong innings in his return to the rotation. He’d been ill and on the 10-day disabled list, came back and allowed three hits in his first start since May 6.
That top of the first was rough, though.
David Peralta led off with a single, and a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases. Another walk forced in a run before Anderson worked out of the jam.
”I just wasn’t commanding the ball like I wanted,” Anderson said, after needing 26 pitches to get out of the inning.
”I think it was good for me to get out there and throw a lot of pitches. It kind of helped me get into the second and third inning and get into a groove and continue to put zeros up on the board,” he said.
Anderson retired 14 of the next 15 batters before Jake Lamb homered in the sixth. He threw 53 of his 80 pitches for strikes before exiting.
”I feel like I could have gone farther, but I think it was probably smart not to go any farther after 10, 11 days off,” he said. ”I came out of the game feeling pretty good.”
Arizona has lost five in a row and 11 of 12, scoring just 24 runs in that span.
”I felt like we came out ready to play,” Diamondbacks Torey Lovullo said. ”We had the bases loaded and we pushed across one run. A big hit in that situation obviously could mean different things and have a different tempo to the game. It didn’t happen.”
Greinke (3-3) struck out nine, walked none and gave up five hits in six innings, but the home runs did him in.
Shaw hit a two-run homer in the first, Santana sliced an opposite-field solo shot in the fourth and Cain homered leading off the sixth. Greinke hadn’t allowed more than two home runs in a game this season.
”The Shaw one, pretty decent pitch,” Greinke said. ”He hit that pitch better than anyone else has over the last couple of years. When I made a mistake, they hit it pretty good.”
Greinke, who got an extra day of rest before this game, slipped to 1-4 at Miller Park after a 15-0 stretch while pitching for the Brewers from May 9, 2011 to June 6, 2012.
Matt Albers pitched a perfect seventh, Jeremy Jeffress handled the eighth and Corey Knebel picked up his second save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Lamb has played three games since coming off the 10-day disabled list. He had been on it since April 2 with a sprained shoulder. He hit a solo home run in the sixth, his first of the season. He hit a career-high 30 in 2017.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: OF Steven Souza came out of Friday’s game against the Mets with right pectoral soreness, the identical problem that put him on the 10-day disabled list earlier this season. ”He re-aggravated that same original injury,” manager Torey Lovullo said. ”We are still calling it day-to-day.”
Brewers: RHP Zach Davies (right rotator cuff inflammation) made a strong rehab start for Class A Wisconsin on Saturday. He struck out nine and allowed two hits over 4 2/3 innings.
BUCHHOLZ GETS ANOTHER START
Clay Buchholz gets another start on the comeback trail.
Lovullo liked what he saw from Buchholz and decided against shuffling the rotation.
”(He) will stay in turn,” Lovullo said. ”Clay is going to get another opportunity.”
Buchholz allowed one run on two hits in five-plus innings in his Arizona debut Sunday. He got a no-decision in the Mets’ 4-1 win.
The 33-year-old righty threw 61 pitches in his first start in more than a year. He suffered a season-ending injury when he tore a tendon in his right forearm April 11, 2017, pitching for Philadelphia.
Buchholz, a two-time All-Star with Boston, made five minor league starts for Kansas City and Arizona this season. He was promoted from Triple-A Reno for the start against the Mets.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: RHP Matt Koch (2-2, 4.06 ERA) looks for a big improvement in his seventh start this season. The previous one was his shortest of the year, an 8-2 loss to the Brewers. He allowed nine hits, including four home runs, in 4 1/3 innings.
Brewers: RHP Jhoulys Chacin (3-1, 3.63 ERA) makes his 11th start overall and second straight start against the Diamondbacks in a week. He allowed one run on two hits over seven innings, but took a no-decision in the 2-1 loss last Tuesday.
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