Hoskins homers, Brewers extend NL Central lead with 2-1 win over Diamondbacks

AP Sports Writer

PHOENIX (AP) — Rhys Hoskins hit a two-run homer, Freddy Peralta pitched five effective innings and the Milwaukee Brewers increased their NL Central lead with a 2-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.

Hoskins hit his 24th homer off Eduardo Rodriguez (2-3) in the fourth inning and five Milwaukee pitchers shut down baseball’s highest-scoring offense. Peralta (11-8) allowed a run on six hits and Devin Williams worked a perfect ninth for his 12th save in 13 opportunities.

The Brewers extended their NL Central lead to 10 games after the Chicago Cubs lost 9-5 to Colorado.

“Freddy wasn’t his best self, but he bobbed and weaved, gave us five,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “We got some big outs at the end. The bullpen was really good.”

Arizona was limited to six hits to drop into a tie with San Diego for the top NL wild-card spot. The Diamondbacks remain five games back of Los Angeles in the NL West following the Dodgers’ 6-2 loss to Atlanta.

“Ww built some innings, but we just couldn’t get that big hit,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “We couldn’t get into that space where we had the slug that broke the game open.”

Both starters were sharp.

Peralta walked two in the first inning and gave up a run on Pavin Smith’s sacrifice fly and worked around traffic the rest of his outing. The right-hander had five strikeouts and four walks in his second straight season with 30 starts.

“My goal from the begining was to put up zeroes, whether it was four innings or seven,” Peralta said. “I know the guys behind me are going to do it — our bullpen is great.”

Rodriguez struck out seven through the first three innings before Hoskins hit a two-run homer off the base of the second deck in the fourth. It was the only two runs the left-hander allowed on five hits in five innings, with seven strikeouts and three walks.

“I felt pretty good. The only pitch I felt I missed was a sinker and when you miss a pitch, you pay for it,” Rodriguez said. “The last three or four games I’ve missed a pitch to the wrong guy and paid for it.”

The Brewers helped Rodriguez with shoddy baserunning.

Jackson Chourio got picked off first by Rodriguez in the third inning and a throw behind Garrett Mitchell by Arizona catcher Jose Herrera led to a forceout at third after a rundown.

“Those guys don’t have a full year in the major leagues and we’re an aggressive team, so it’s going to happen,” Murphy said.

TRAINER’S TABLE

Diamondbacks: C Gabriel Moreno (groin) is expected to be activated from the injured list early next week. … OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (left calf) also could be back in the lineup later in the week.

UP NEXT

Brewers RHP Tobias Myers (7-5, 2.93 ERA) was set to face RHP Brandon Pfaadt (9-8, 4.42) on Saturday.

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