Lourdes

Gurriel Jr.

Gurriel took Logan Evans deep for a solo homer in the fourth inning, then singled to lead off the sixth before stealing second and scoring on a home run by Gabriel Moreno. The 31-year-old outfielder is having another solid all-around season in Arizona, hitting .258/.304/.446 with ten homers, 37 RBI and four steals across 263 plate appearances.

This was a slow night for both the Braves’ and Diamondbacks’ offenses. They scored three runs and had just one extra-base hit combined. Gurriel started that scoring off when he dunked a single into right-center field off Chris Sale and that was the only run either team scored until the ninth inning. He’s put together a fine season with eight home runs and a .731 OPS albeit with a .298 on-base percentage.

Gurriel got the Diamondbacks on the board first in this one with an RBI double off of Mitchell Parker in the opening inning. He then rode home on a two-run blast off the bat of Eugenio Suarez. As a team, the Diamondbacks had just three hits in the contest, but that’s all the offense they would need. On the season, the 31-year-old outfielder is now hitting .251/.291/.436 with eight homers, 33 RBI and three stolen bases.

Gurriel will get a breather Saturday against Michael Soroka and the Washington pitching staff. Randal Grichuk gets the start in left field and he’ll hit eighth while Gurriel rests.

It’s a rare night off for Gurriel with rookie Tim Tawa entering the lineup to play left field and face Dodgers righty Dustin May. It’ll be Gabriel Moreno, who has homered in back-to-back contests and is hitting .321 over his last 15 games, moving up to the third spot in Arizona’s lineup.

Gurriel hammered a two-run shot to score Corbin Carroll and himself and give the Diamondbacks a 5-0 lead. He’s now up to 37 RBI on the season to go with eight homers, and it puts him on pace to reach the 100-RBI mark for the first time in his career. Those numbers are solid, but the .227 average and .271 on-base percentage certainly leave a bit to be desired.

Gurriel’s reward for a grand slam and five total RBI night is a day of rest. Tim Tawa will get the start in left and hit eighth while Gurriel sits.

All grand slams are big, but grand slams that tie the game are a little more special. That’s what Gurriel did with his bases-clearing roundtripper off Anthony Banda in the fifth inning. He also had a fielder’s choice drive in a run an inning earlier. Gurriel has gone deep seven times while slashing .213/.238/.418

After Gurriel went hitless in his last two games, he broke out with a three-hit effort against the Mets on Tuesday, including a two-run blast off David Peterson in the sixth inning to extend the Diamondbacks’ lead. The 31-year-old outfielder is up to six homers while hitting .219/.246/.422 with 20 RBI across 138 plate appearances.

The out was his loudest batted ball; he sent Johan Rojas to the wall in center field in a one-run game in the ninth, but Rojas made the catch and had the wind knocked out of him for his trouble. It still went as Gurriel’s first three-hit game of the season, pushing his average back over .200 for the first time in four weeks.