Emmanuel Rivera Shines Again in D-backs 2-1 Victory over Milwaukee

Torey Lovullo isn't surprised by Rivera's success with Arizona

© Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

When the Diamondbacks traded for Emmanuel Rivera at the trade deadline they acquired a player that was batting just .237 with 6 home runs and a .683 OPS.  However since coming to Arizona Rivera has been one of the leading hitters on the team.  His three hit night, including a key RBI double to tie the game in the 4th inning raised his Diamondbacks batting line to .293/.398/.587, .985 OPS with 7 doubles, 5 homers and 13 RBI in just 21 games

When asked if he was surprised at how Rivera has hit here Torey Lovullo responded immediately:

Not to me. We saw him a couple times in spring training, I think he hit a long home run off us and had some very good at bats. He caught the coaches eye.

Lovullo went on to praise the front office for pulling off this type of trade. Rivera still has rookie status, and is under team control until 2028. He will not be arbitration eligible until 2025.  

Rivera has also been playing excellent defense when it's his turn to man the hot corner. He's been platooning there with Josh Rojas, although he played DH tonight. He's been providing much needed right handed balance to the lineup and is certainly a key factor in the team's resurgence.

Rivera's RBI double couldn't have come at a better time tonight. Starting pitcher Zach Davies worked through runners on base in each of the first four innings without a run to score. He almost made it through the 5th, but with two outs and his pitch count climbing he allowed a base hit to Willy Adames and was pulled from the game. 

Reliever Kyle Nelson, making his first appearance since being reinstated from the injured list after being out a month with a back injury, proceeded to walk the first three batters he faced, forcing in the game's first run. 

But as they've done so often lately, Arizona answered right back in their half of the fifth.  Christian Walker started if off with a double down the left field line that just stayed fair.  Rivera's double, a blast deep to left center field, scored Walker. Jake McCarthy  then singled to center driving in Rivera for the go ahead and ultimately winning run.

Emmanuel Rivera has a .932 OPS since being acquired at the deadline. pic.twitter.com/Z6sYqbELbE

— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) September 3, 2022

Jake McCarthy for the lead! pic.twitter.com/2mF4dtaWqj

— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) September 3, 2022

The bullpen locked down the last 4 innings, with Reyes Moronta, Kevin Ginkel, Joe Mantiply, and Ian Kennedy tossing a scoreless inning each to nail down the victory.  Ironically Kyle Nelson got the win. Kennedy picked up his 10th save.  The Brewers have scored only one run in the series so far, having been shut out yesterday. 

The Diamondbacks have now won 7 of their last 8 games, all against teams fighting for a wild card spot.  This was to be the beginning of a  challenging stretch of games that were expected to be a severe test of the young ball club. Michael McDermott wrote about the schedule yesterday. So far they're passing with flying colors.  

It only gets tougher from here though. They have two more against these same Brewers, including tomorrow's game with a struggling Madison Bumgarner on the mound.  Then over their next 18 games, 8 are against the Dodgers and 7 are against the Padres.  

The team's young players are looking forward to the challenge. Speaking about the upcoming schedule Josh Rojas said:

I know talking to the guys in the locker room a lot of us are looking forward to that, especially these couple of LA series that we have coming up. They've had our number so far this year. Hopefully this month we can go out there and put up a good fight and win some ballgames against them

Rojas also emphasized at the same time they need to take it one game at a time. He's right about that.