Andruw Monasterio and Caleb Durbin homered as the Milwaukee Brewers held off the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks 7-5 on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Monasterio’s third homer, a one-out solo shot in the fourth, put the Brewers up 6-0. Arizona rallied within 6-5, but Durbin opened the eighth inning with his ninth home run, sending a 1-2 pitch from reliever Bryce Jarvis 378 feet to left to make it 7-5.
Brandon Woodruff (5-1) allowed five runs, all in the sixth inning, and five hits over 5 2/3 innings while striking out eight and walking one.
Aaron Ashby followed with 1 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out five, and Nick Mears retired the only two batters he faced. Abner Uribe finished with a perfect ninth for his third save.
Milwaukee increased its lead in the NL Central to 4 1/2 games over the Chicago Cubs, who were idle. The Brewers are 4-6 since amassing their franchise-record 14-game winning streak.
The Diamondbacks trailed 6-0 early, but rallied in the sixth against Woodruff, who allowed only one hit through the first five innings.
Alek Thomas singled to open the inning and Geraldo Perdomo was hit by a pitch. Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll followed with RBI singles to make it 6-2. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. then jumped on the first pitch for a three-run homer, his 19th, to cut the lead to 6-5.
The Brewers scored five runs in the third, opening the inning with six consecutive hits. Isaac Collins doubled and moved to third when Blake Perkins singled to snap an 0-for-16 skid. Monasterio and Brice Turang followed with RBI singles to put Milwaukee up 2-0.
Christian Yelich’s two-run bases-loaded single extended the lead to 4-0. Sal Frelick’s RBI groundout made it 5-0 and chased starter Eduardo Rodriguez (5-8), who surrendered six hits and five runs in 2 1/3 innings with one strikeout and one walk.
