Brewers 6, Diamondbacks 1: Jordan Lyles pitches six no-hit innings, cruises behind early lead

Six days after being unable to protect a five-run lead in Washington, Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Jordan Lyles was unhittable Friday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Lyles didn’t allow a hit before being removed from the game after six innings, having thrown 99 pitches. The Brewers led, 6-0, at the time and went on to a 6-1 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 42,209 fans at Miller Park.

Lyles, who allowed five runs in four innings in his previous start against the Nationals in a marathon game the Brewers eventually won, 15-14, in 14 innings, issued two walks, both to Christian Walker. He recorded five strikeouts, including two in the sixth inning before departing.

BOX SCORE: Brewers 6, Diamondbacks 1

Rookie righty Devin Williams took over for Lyles and retired the first two hitters in the seventh before Walker blooped a single into shallow center, just over shortstop Orlando Arcia, to end any thought of a combined no-hitter. Arizona finished with two hits, including an RBI single in the ninth by Ketel Marte off Jeremy Jeffress. 

Lyles became only the third pitcher in Brewers history to finish a start of at least six innings without allowing a hit. Ben McDonald covered six no-hit innings at Baltimore on July 11, 1997, and Juan Nieves went the distance for the team’s only no-hitter in Baltimore on April 15, 1987.

In five starts since being acquired in a trade from Pittsburgh, Lyles is 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA. 

When the Brewers faced Arizona right-hander Merrill Kelly at Chase Field on July 18, he dominated them, allowing three hits and one run over seven innings. This time, they jumped on him for three runs before he could record his second out.

Lorenzo Cain started the first-inning rally with a sharp, opposite-field single to right, and Yasmani Grandal followed with a walk. After Christian Yelich bounced into a force at second, Keston Hiura walked to load the bases.

Mike Moustakas drove a double into the gap in right-center, sending home two runs, with Hiura scampering to third. Ryan Braun then smacked an infield hit off Kelly’s foot, scoring Hiura to give the Brewers a quick 3-0 lead.

The Brewers’ lead grew to four runs in the third inning when Eric Thames blasted a two-out homer to center, his 18th of the season. Hiura made it 5-0 in the fifth when he led off the fifth with a homer to left, a massive 423-foot shot far into the bleachers.

Kelly would not get out of that inning, getting charged with a sixth run on a base hit by Lyles, who in that one at-bat collected more hits than he allowed.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Woodruff takes another step: Right-hander Brandon Woodruff took another step forward in returning from a strained left oblique by increasing the distance in his throwing program to 120 feet off flat ground, the last step before getting back on the mound. Woodruff, sidelined since July 22, is expected back sometime in mid-September. “It’s another step,” manager Craig Counsell said. “This is a time thing. The more time we get, the more it’s going to heal and the better he’s going to be. We’re going to be at five weeks on Sunday. We’re getting to a spot where we hope a lot of healing has taken place and we can start to push it.”

Time to close gap: The Brewers entered the night four games behind first-place Chicago in the NL Central race and 3 ½ games out of the second wild-card spot, with four teams ahead of them overall. They had 34 games remaining in the season, not exactly panic time but certainly in need of closing ground sometime soon. “We’ve got to win games,” Counsell said. “We’re within striking distance of this. As long as you’re in striking distance you’ve got a shot. That’s how I feel. We also all feel that we got to win games at a better clip. I guess that’s urgency but you still can’t confuse that with like today is the last game of the year.”

Cain gets the thumb: Lorenzo Cain has been swinging the bat much better in recent games but he couldn’t take home plate umpire Ryan Blakney’s terrible strike zone in the fifth inning. Blakney called strike two on a low pitch and strike three on a pitch way inside, not even close to the zone. Cain let him know what he thought of that horrible call and was ejected for his trouble. He was replaced in center by Trent Grisham.

Mudcats sweep awards: The Brewers’ advanced Class A Carolina affiliate swept the individual awards in the Carolina League. Catcher Mario Feliciano was named most valuable player in that circuit and right-hander Noah Zavolas was voted pitcher of the year. Feliciano, 20, is batting .273 with 23 doubles, 19 home runs, 79 RBI and .802 OPS in 114 games. Zavolas, part of the Ben Gamel-Domingo Santana trade with Seattle, is 6-5 with a 2.98 ERA in 22 starts with 102 strikeouts in 133 innings.

RECORD

This year: 66-62

Last year: 70-58

ATTENDANCE

Friday: 42,209 (14th sellout)

This year: 2,250,098 (35,716 avg.)

Last year: 2,174,697 (34,519 avg.)

COMING UP

Saturday: Diamondbacks at Brewers, 6:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Chase Anderson (5-3, 4.54) vs. Arizona RHP Zac Gallen (2-3, 2.45). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.