The Milwaukee Brewers may be without a few key cogs on Saturday when they continue their three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Miller Park.
Arizona drew first blood in this set on Friday, as Wade Miley tossed six innings of one-run ball to guide the Diamondbacks to a 3-1 win. Paul Goldschmidt had an RBI double and Martin Prado added a double and scored a run for Arizona, which has won three of their first four games of the season.
J.J. Putz stranded one runner in the ninth to pick up his first save of the season.
Jean Segura stroked a solo homer, the first of his career, for the Brewers, who have dropped their last three after winning the season opener.
"I feel pretty good at the plate. I am just trying to compete," Segura said. "Last year I didn't hit any. It feels good."
Burke Badenhop (0-1) was pegged with the loss after two runners scored on a wild pitch in the seventh. Badenhop issued a walk and a hit over one- third of an inning. The runners came around on Michael Gonzalez's wild pitch.
To make matters worse, Aramis Ramirez left the game in the fourth inning with an apparent knee injury after sliding into second base awkwardly. Ramirez missed two weeks with a similar injury and admitted this one felt worse.
"We'll know more (Saturday)," Ramirez said. "I'll get an MRI (Saturday). We'll go from there. I don't want to assume anything."
Also, slugger Ryan Braun was scratched shortly before gametime on Friday with spasms on the right side of his neck. He is listed as questionable for Saturday's contest.
Getting the call for Arizona on Saturday will be lefty Patrick Corbin, who earned the fifth spot in the Diamondbacks' starting rotation this spring.
Corbin had been battling righty Randall Delgado, who was acquired from Atlanta in the Justin Upton trade. However, Corbin beat him out by pitching to a 2.81 ERA in 25 2/3 spring innings
The 23-year-old hurler got his first taste of big league action in 2012 and was 6-8 with a 4.54 ERA in 22 games, 17 of which were starts.
Milwaukee, meanwhile, will counter with 27-year-old righty Mike Fiers, who was named the team's No. 5 starter after Chris Narveson was moved into a long- relief role in the bullpen. Fiers was not particularly effective for the Brewers this spring, as he pitched to a 6.98 ERA and allowed a team-high 29 hits in 19 1/3 innings.
"It's not the hitters. It wasn't about who was in the box," Fiers said. "It was about me making pitches, and I wasn't doing it. I felt like I never threw a ball before at one point. It just felt weird.
"After I got off to a bad start in spring, I think I lost a little confidence, and that was a big part of it."
However, he was solid last year, going 8-6 with a 2.88 ERA over his first 16 starts before ending the season, 9-10 with a 3.74 ERA.
The Brewers and Diamondbacks split six meetings last season, with each team taking two of three at home.
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