Shipley will make his major league debut Monday against the Brewers.
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The Brewers went deep four times in all, three off Shipley, for a 7-2 victory.
“He’s had an at-bat probably 10 out of the 12 nights he’s been here, but (pinch-hitting) is still a challenging job”, Counsell said.
“Yesterday (Sunday) was a tough day”, Counsell said. It was a draining day, as warm as I can ever remember. We just come out and play the next day. Tonight was a good night for him.
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Braden Shipley pitches to an Milwaukee Brewers’ batter during the first inning of a baseball game Monday, July 25, 2016, in Milwaukee.
Shipley’s first inning went long. If he was around the plate for most of the night, a three-run homer from Brewers’ catcher Martin Maldonado in the sixth was the dagger.
The D-Backs are 1-7 in their last eight road games, 5-17 in their last 22 overall, and 2-9 in their last 11 against a team with a losing record while the Brewers are 1-4 in their last five home games, 0-4 in Garza’s last four starts, and 3-8 in their last 11 overall.
“He threw me four (curves) out of seven pitches”, Maldonado said. That’s what we’re looking for, we’re trying to develop these guys into winners. It was nice to come here today and do our best to win that ball game. Obviously, now we move onto his next start, and we want to get a winning effort.
Scooter Gennett struck first, launching a solo shot off the scoreboard in center with one out in the first.
Pinch-hitting is the toughest thing you can ask a young player to do after getting regular at-bats in the minors, so Wilkins was all smiles after finally lighting one up.
Through the first two innings of his career, Shipley allowed two hits, one eared run and two walks against one strikeout.
The offensive outburst made a victor out of Anderson, who held the Diamondbacks to two runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out five.
A hanging changeup Shipley served to Jonathan Villar at the bottom of the inning gave Milwaukee a 2-1 lead, and after Arizona again tied the game, a lead-off double by Villar in the fifth led to an RBI single by Ryan Braun, giving the Brewers a 3-2 advantage.
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“I definitely made a step forward”, said Anderson (5-10), who won for the first time since June 8 against Oakland.
