Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

By Josh Greene

Being a fan of ballparks, it’s always interesting to be able to see somewhere new.

Born way too late to have experienced the likes of Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds, Shibe Park, Sportsman’s Park or any of the other classics that now only live on in other people’s memories and sepia-toned newsreel footage, to get to see Miller Park for the first time in Saturday’s Game 1 of the D-backs-Brewers National League Division Series was an understandable thrill.

The surprising thing is the more you looked around, the more it actually resembled Chase Field. There was the retractable roof, a massive centerfield scoreboard, another Friday’s Front Row restaurant that overlooks the field, a strikeout tally board, the D-backs dugout on the third base side…

But the thing that really screamed Chase Field was a great pitching matchup.

Although Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo walked away with the win thanks to eight innings of four-hit ball to go along with nine strikeouts in the 4-1 Milwaukee win, Ian Kennedy kept Arizona within striking distance until Prince Fielder deposited a seventh inning mistake into the right-field stands for a two-run homer. The only other runs came off a bases-loaded, sacrifice fly in the fourth and a two-out triple and Jonathan Lucroy bloop single two innings later. The Arizona ace tallied four strikeouts and threw 111 pitches (77 strikes) in 6.2 innings before giving way to the bullpen in his first-ever postseason appearance.

“He pitched great,” D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said. “Other than the mistake he made to Fielder, it was a tight game. There’s nothing he can do about that. He made a great pitch on the change up. And actually, the RBI by Lucroy, (he) made a good pitch on him there, gets jammed on it, and they drop it in. And up to that point he was exceptional.”

With the NLDS being a best-of-five series, and without home-field advantage, the D-backs knew all along they would have to win at least once on the road. They now head into Sunday’s Game 2 looking to even up the series with Daniel Hudson taking the mound, before heading back to Chase Field for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We’ve got a good guy pitching tomorrow,” Gibson said, “and we’ve been down before and we’ve been resilient. It’s a long series. (This was) one game. We’re going to keep it in perspective. We’ll come back with a good attitude and believe we can win tomorrow.”