In the first two games of their Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Arizona Diamondbacks scored five runs and collected exactly one hit in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Diamondbacks vs. Brewers, Game 4: What Happened In Milwaukee, Stayed In Milwaukee
Powered by four home runs -- including Ryan Roberts’ grand slam and Chris Young’s two blasts -- the Diamondbacks evened their Division Series with a 10-6 victory over the Brewers.
That was in Milwaukee, and they lost both games.
In their next two games, the Diamondbacks scored 18 runs and pounded out nine hits in 20 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
That was in Phoenix, and they won both games, including Wednesday night’s Game 4 triumph, 10-6.
What might explain all these numbers? That’s just baseball, man.
Tuesday night in Game 3, Milwaukee's Shaun Marcum gave up seven runs, which he'd done just once in 33 regular-season starts.
Wednesday night in Game 4, Milwaukee's Randy Wolf gave up seven runs, which he'd done just once in 33 regular-season starts.
Go ahead. Try to explain those numbers.
Yes, the Brewers were 57-24 at home this season, with a losing record on the road.
Yes, the Diamondbacks were 51-30 at home this season (but a decent 43-38 on the road).
No, none of those numbers explain the other numbers. Baseball is simply delightfully deeply unpredictable from day to day. Before last Tuesday, Ryan Roberts had never hit a grand slam home run in a major-league game. But he hit a walk-off grand slam that night, and he hit another salami in the first inning of Game 4, giving the Diamondbacks a 4-1 lead. Chris Young hadn't hit two home runs in one game since April ... until Game 4, when he followed Roberts with a solo shot, and tacked on a two-run blast in the seventh.
The past is informative, but does not predict the short-term future with any precision at all. Just as the Diamondbacks seem to have forgotten about the horrors in Milwaukee, the Brewers will surely forget their nightmares in Phoenix. At some point in the next 24 hours, the Baseball Gods will, as they almost always do, depress a giant RESET button on this series.
What happens in Game 5 back in Milwaukee will happen, and will have little to do with what happened before.
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