PHOENIX — Ryan Roberts hit a grand slam, Chris Young had the first two-homer game in Arizona’s postseason history and the Diamondbacks beat the Milwaukee Brewers 10-6 on Wednesday night to force Game 5 in their NL division series.
A day after rolling over the Brewers 8-1, the Diamondbacks struck quickly and often in Game 4, scoring five runs in the first inning off Randy Wolf. The Diamondbacks became the second team — with the 1977 Dodgers — to hit grand slams in consecutive playoff games.
Arizona evened the series at 2-2 and sent it back to Milwaukee for the decisive game Friday. It will be a rematch of Game 1 between 21-game winner Ian Kennedy of the Diamondbacks and fellow right-hander Yovani Gallardo.
Written off by many after being outscored 13-5 in the first two games, baseball’s best rally team — 48 comeback wins during the regular season — has put itself in position to become just the eighth team overall to win a best-of-five series after trailing 2-0.
Young had three RBIs and Aaron Hill hit a solo homer for Arizona’s first four-homer game in the postseason. Pinch-hitter Collin Cowgill added a two-run single and the bullpen held on after a less-than-crisp outing by starter Joe Saunders to keep Milwaukee from winning a postseason series for the first time since reaching the 1982 World Series.
The NL West champion Diamondbacks punctuated their worst-to-first finish with grand slams in their final two home games of the regular season, then kept slamming ’em at Chase Field in the playoffs.
Paul Goldschmidt was the star in Game 3, becoming the third rookie ever to hit a grand slam in the playoffs. He had the crowd buzzing when he strode to the plate against Wolf with the bases loaded in the first inning. He couldn’t come, through; Wolf struck him out looking.
Roberts sure did, though, lining his second grand slam in four home games over the wall in left. The shot had the crowd roaring and got his teammates out of the dugout doing “The Snake,” a Miguel Montero-created move that involves cupping the right hand and making a striking motion — like, well, a snake head.
Wolf, 0-2 with a 6.08 ERA in two starts against Arizona during the regular season, lasted just two more innings after allowing seven runs and eight hits.
