Ian Kennedy doesn't think he's "back."

The Diamondbacks right-hander, who won 21 games and emerged as an ace last season, was 3-5 with a 4.65 ERA entering Wednesday's game against the Giants.

Then he pitched 7.1 innings, giving up just five hits and one run, and the hope is he's turned his season around.

"The last couple of weeks -- the last couple of starts, especially -- I haven't been throwing particularly well, so the other night I started to feel like I got in a nice little groove there against the Giants," Kennedy told Arizona Sports 620's Doug and Wolf Friday. "I felt like early in the season I didn't feel as sharp as I wanted to be.

"I still was throwing pretty well but not as good as I wanted to."

Kennedy, of course, is glad to have pitched well and helped the D-backs win. The team has been struggling this season, and a sweep at the hands of the Giants would have been really damaging.

So if in fact he has turned a corner and will now look like the Kennedy of yesteryear, the D-backs will really be in business. Even if Kennedy himself doesn't think he's changed much in his approach.

"I've done it before, I've struggled in the past," he said. "Last year was last year, and it's not like the first time I've had any type of back to back starts where I haven't had my best stuff."

So, as is usually the case with Kennedy, there wasn't really any panic.

But, he admitted, there was a point where he sought out some help and advice from those around him.

"There was a point there where I was looking at things and I needed some opinions to see if they see it too," he said. "Actually there's some things that I needed to do. I was looking at film from last year, I was looking at other things from earlier this year that I felt like I was throwing the ball well."

Kennedy added that he thinks it was just "a couple of pitches" where he was doing the same thing and leaving the ball up in the zone, minor things he thinks have been worked out.

Which is good, because the Diamondbacks will need him if they're to make a playoff push.