Arizona ties club mark with 6 HRs
PHOENIX — Arizona’s bats woke up during a threegame series against Cincinnati. The Diamondbacks kept rolling in their opener against Miami, sending one ball after another over the Chase Field walls.
Ketel Marte hit homers from each side of the plate for two of Arizona’s franchise record-tying six homers, helping the Diamondbacks roll over the Marlins 9-1 on Friday night.
“Our approach was outstanding all night long,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “We waited for the pitch we were trying to line up and square up, and we didn’t miss it.”
Arizona broke out of a prolonged offensive slump in the previous series, scoring a season-high 21 runs while taking two of three from the Cincinnati Reds.
The Diamondbacks kept knocking balls around Chase Field against Elieser Hernandez (0-3), with David Descalso, Jake Lamb and David Peralta going deep in the first three innings.
The homers kept coming. John Ryan Murphy homered for the third straight game with a two-run shot in the fifth inning. Marte launched a solo shot from the right side of the plate two batters later and added another as a lefty in the eighth off Brad Ziegler. He is the sixth player in franchise history with homers from both sides of the plate and first since Tony Clark in 2009.
That was more than enough for Clay Buchholz (1-1).
The 33-year-old righthander allowed a run on six hits and struck out nine in seven innings, becoming the first pitcher in franchise history to pitch at least five innings and allow one run his first three starts with the team. It was his first win since Sept. 21, 2016, with Boston.
“It’s been a while; I’ve had a couple of minor league wins the past couple of years,” said Buchholz, who started the season with Kansas City before opting out of his minor league contract in May. “You work to win games, put the team in
position to win and that’s all I’m worried about every time I go out there.”
Hernandez had a couple of tough-luck starts prior to arriving in the desert, getting two combined runs of support in a pair of losses.
The Marlins’ bats were again quiet with Hernandez on the mound, but it wasn’t going to matter much the way the Diamondbacks knocked him around.
Peralta had a run-scoring single in the first inning, Descalso a two-run homer in the second, Lamb and Peralta solo shots in the third.
Hernandez allowed five runs on five hits in three innings.
“Tonight was really the first time we had seen him where he lacked command,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “He didn’t throw the ball where he wanted
and that is kind of unusual for him.”
Murphy hit a two-run shot off Jarlin Garcia in the fifth, and Marte hit a solo
shot off the right-hander to make it 8-0.
Lewis Brinson hit a runscoring single in the seventh inning, but Buchholz worked out a bases-loaded jam to limit the damage.
“Today was more of a byproduct of not being able to stop them,” Mattingly said. “I felt a lot better energy today than yesterday. It was just that we got behind early and it doesn’t stop.”