PHOENIX (AP) — Kevin Newman’s two-run single in the bottom of the ninth inning capped a four-hit night and gave the Arizona Diamondbacks a 6-5 victory over the reeling Cincinnati Reds on Monday night.
Newman had a pair of doubles and a single before coming to the plate in the ninth against Alexis Diaz (1-2), who had loaded the bases with a hit batsman and two walks. Newman lined the pitch to shallow right to score Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno.
“Just got lucky on that one, placed it in a good spot and scored two runs,” said Newman, who has had a chance to play this season due to injuries to regular shortstop Geraldo Perdomo and top prospect Jordan Lawlar.
His approach, he said, is “just working on staying up the middle, to stay on those off-speed pitches a little bit better.”
Justin Martinez (1-0), the fifth Arizona pitcher of the game, picked up his first major league win with a scoreless ninth.
The Reds have lost 11 of their last 12 games, including a three-game sweep by the Diamondbacks in Cincinnati last week.
“We came back and put ourselves in a nice position to win the game,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Alexis has been so good for us on so many occasions. Those games are going to happen.”
Cincinnati scored twice in the eighth to take the lead. Jeimer Candelario singled to center on a play that was originally ruled a catch and a double play. But replay showed that Arizona’s Corbin Carroll trapped the ball, allowing Spencer Steer to score the tying run from second instead of being doubled off.
Mike Ford followed with a triple that bounced away from right fielder Jake McCarthy and scored Candelario easily.
Former Reds third baseman Eugenio Suárez put Arizona ahead 4-3 in the seventh with a two-out RBI single off Fernando Cruz, who escaped further damage.
Moreno and Joc Pederson homered for Arizona, which returned from a six-game trip. The Diamondbacks chased Reds starter Graham Ashcraft after four innings but couldn’t come through with a two-out hit until Suarez did it in the seventh. Arizona stranded 14 runners in the game.
Moreno’s homer was his first of the season. He hit seven last year but added four more in Arizona’s postseason run to the World Series.
Jordan Montgomery pitched into the sixth for the Diamondbacks. He gave up six hits, walked three and struck out seven.
Pederson and Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo were ejected in the eighth inning by plate umpire Mark Carlson. Pederson was called out on strikes with two on and one out.
“I didn’t agree with one of the pitches, I flipped my bat and he threw me out,” Pederson said. “I didn’t know that was illegal. I guess I learned something new.”
As for Lovullo, who jumped in to defend his DH, he had a few choice words that earned his first ejection of the season and 18th of his career.
“I was battling my own frustration,” he said. “Mark’s a great umpire.”
Ketel Marte’s first-inning single off the bag at first extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
