The Diamondbacks defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 5-0 at American Family Field, taking the series. Catcher José Herrera had a game to remember, slugging his first career home run in the fifth and calling a shutout behind the plate. With the win, their magic number to clinch a postseason spot drops to just four as the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets both won.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“It’s special, it’s been the hard work through the years,” said Herrera in the on-field postgame interview on DbacksTV. “Even the coaches were happy with me. First of all, it’s about winning. That’s who I am, everything I do is to help the team win.”
It was a great moment for a player who has long paid his dues to get his current opportunity. Herrera has been in the Diamondbacks’ organization since July 2023 and has been up and down from the minors over the past three seasons. In his 350th career plate appearance, he got a curveball from Brewers starter Aaron Civale and launched it out to the right field seats.
FIRST CAREER HOME RUN FOR JOSE HERRERA!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/CKbIwNlWcM
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) September 22, 2024
“It was a 1-1 count, he threw me a curveball. I was looking for something in the zone and try to hit it back to him. That’s when I got to him all the way through the middle. Thank god that it went over the fence.”
When he made contact, Herrera knew he had a chance for it go out. He was greeted with hugs from all his teammates once he got back to the dugout.
The Diamondbacks took the lead against Civale in the first. Ketel Marte singled with one out, then Joc Pederson launched a long home run to center that put Arizona up 2-0.
The early offense was good for Merrill Kelly, who inherited a 2-0 lead before throwing his first pitch. He cruised through the first five innings, the only offense coming in the third on back-to-back singles. Relying on his three different fastballs, he was operating ahead of the count and kept Milwaukee guessing.
Kelly was in complete control of his start, striking out four straight, but then cramping issues reared their ugly head again as he tried to warm up in the sixth. It was a warm night, with a game-time temperature of 79 degrees and 50% humidity. The right-hander was promptly removed from the game with cramping in his right calf, the same one that knocked him out of two starts last season. With Kelly expected to be a big part of their postseason rotation, that’s an issue that the medical staff needs to figure out.
“He was feeling some right calf fatigue, maybe a little bit of discomfort,” said manager Torey Lovullo postgame on DbacksTV. “I made the decision to take him out of the game. He was actually trying to push to stay in it. I told him that he had done his job and we had plenty of coverage in the bullpen. I just know how Merrill is wired, he’s trying to do it for his teammates first. He knew perhaps we were a little thin in the bullpen and once I told him we’re fine, and I don’t want to risk this because if we’re going where we want to go to we have a lot of baseball left to play.”
Even with an early exit from their veteran starter, the Diamondbacks bullpen did not miss a beat in this game. The trio of Joe Mantiply, Kevin Ginkel, and A.J. Puk combined for four perfect innings with seven strikeouts to shut the door. Ketel Marte, Arizona’s offensive closer, slugged his ninth ninth-inning home run of the season to blow it open.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
