What goes around, comes around.
On Thursday, the day after the Brewers scored 3 runs off of the D-backs’ pen to win the game, Arizona returned the favor…in spades.
Starter Manny Parra pitched 6 scoreless innings and left with a 5-0 lead (thanks, in part to home runs by J.J. Hardy, to continue his hit streak, and Mike Cameron–both of ace and likely NL All-Star game starter Brandon Webb)…yup, Webb allowed 5 ER over 6 IP.
Mitch Stetter then pitched a scoreless 7th…and Eric Gagne pitched a scoreless 8th.
Then, figuring a 5-run lead was safe, Brewers’ manager Ned Yost thought Guillermo Mota would be okay…wrong. Mota proceeds to give up a single, a walk, and then another single to start the inning…to the 7-8-9 hitters. Brian Shouse spells Mota, but sees pinch-hitter Chad Tracy, who promptly doubles to clear the bases. Yost opts for closer Salomon Torres, now leading only 5-3. Torres allows three straight hits, leading to three runs, and the loss.
Fortunately, both the Cards and Cubs lost as well.
So the Crew finishes with a series split, and probably the most disheartening loss of the season. Mota should never have been put in, in hindsight, and has given up at least one earned run in each of his last three appearances, and finished June with a 6.48 ERA for the month. Torres was overdue for a bad outing, but he sure picked the wrong day to do it.
The Crew returns home for the holiday for three against the Pirates.
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