Godley bounces back, D-backs make it two wins in a row at home

PHOENIX — Six starts and 32 days, that’s how long Zack Godley has waited to revisit the win column. He, like many of his Arizona Diamondbacks teammates, have long wanted an end to May. But as the calendar will soon flip to a new month, maybe so too have the D-backs’ fortunes.

Let’s start with Godley.

It wasn’t always pretty but for six innings on Tuesday Godley helped lead the D-backs to their second win in as many games against the Cincinnati Reds, 5-2, thus clinching the series victory; all of which was done in front of an announced crowd of 20,046 at Chase Field.

The D-backs had not won back-to-back games since a three-game winning streak from May 5, 7-8, which also marked their last series win. They had dropped six straight series.

Godley (5-4) held the Reds to two runs — one in the first and another in the six — on six hits, including a home run, with two walks and seven strikeouts to record his first win victory since April 27.

“It’s a great team victory,” he said, refusing to make it about him.

Only once in those six innings worked did Godley retire the Reds in order. The defense turned two double plays behind him and had three in the game.

Brad Boxberger closed it out, earning his 13th save.

Offensively, the D-backs scored twice in each of the first and third innings and tacked on one more in the fifth.

Daniel Descalso’s two-run home run highlighted the first, while Ketel Marte and Jake Lamb had RBI in the third. The team’s fifth run was scored on a throwing error.

All the runs were charged to Luis Castillo (4-5).

The D-backs have looked more like themselves in the last two games, and they are now in position for just their second sweep of the season.

THE GOOD

Looks like the D-backs have found their new clean-up hitter. It’s Descalso. Yes, Descalso. Batting fourth once again, he quickly erased a 1-0 deficit with a two-run, first-inning home run, lifting a 95.8 mph fastball high and deep over the fence in right field. That’s six homers this season, four in his last 32 games.

After a pair of hits in the series opener, Marte continued to swing a hot bat with a run-scoring double in the third inning. He lined a ball down the right-field line, scoring Jarrod Dyson, who ran through Tony Perezchica’s stop sign at third base, yet touched home plate well ahead of the throw to extend the D-backs lead to 3-1.

How much did the D-backs miss Lamb? A lot. And he’s showing why. With his sacrifice fly in the third inning, which put the D-backs in front 4-1, Lamb has recorded an RBI in three straight games, his best run of the season. He now has 10 RBI in 14 games, five since being reinstated from the disabled list on May 18.

THE BAD

Three batters into the game and the Reds had runners on the corners courtesy of a leadoff double and one-out single. The visitors would soon plate that lead runner on an RBI groundout by Scooter Gennett, his 38th run batted in this season, second-best on the team. All totaled, it took the Reds four batters and 17 pitches to take a 1-0 lead. Godley needed 28 pitches to complete what was a 16-minute first inning.

For the second straight start and fourth time in six starts this month Godley served up a home-run ball. It was a sinker down in the zone that Eugenio Suarez took for a ride, all the way to straightaway center field and off the batter’s eye just above the camera well to lead off the sixth inning. It was Suarez’s 10th homer of the season and the eighth allowed by Godley, six of them in May. Fortunately, it was just the Reds’ second run of the game.

STAT OF THE GAME

2: The D-backs recorded their first two-game winning streak in three weeks

HE SAID IT

“I thought guys were locked in with men on the bases,” manager Torey Lovullo said, adding about their four-hit total. “We didn’t have a lot of hits but we had meaningful hits and it ended up helping us win the game.”

NOTED

Godley threw a first-pitch strike to 14 of the 26 batters faced; plus, he reached a 3-ball count three times.

Descalso finished 2-for-4 and is now batting .300 (27-for-90) with 18 RBI over his last 32 games played.

Yoshihisa Hirano extended his scoreless streak to 11 games (10.0 IP), a run that began back on May 6.

D-backs improved to 5-0 on Tuesdays at home and they are now 21-3 when scoring four or more runs.

Paul Goldschmidt was not in the starting lineup; he was given the day off, just his second of the season.

With a first-pitch temperature of 100 degrees, the game was played with both the roof and panels closed.

Cardinals rookie quarterback Josh Rosen and receiver Christian Kirk threw out ceremonial first pitches.

The entire 2018 Cardinals’ rookie class, including undrafted prospects, was recognized before the game.

UP NEXT

The series concludes with Patrick Corbin on the mound in search of his team-leading sixth win on Wednesday, May 30. He’ll be opposed by Sal Romano. First pitch is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on ESPN 620 AM.

Corbin (5-1) is coming off his best outing in weeks. He held the A’s to one run on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in a 7-1 victory at Oakland on May 25. It marked his first win since April 22.

Chase Field has been very good to Corbin this season. In six home starts, he’s 4-1 with a 2.03 ERA (9 ER in 40.0 IP), .144 opponent average (20-for-139) and 52 strikeouts versus only seven walks. Though as luck would have it, Corbin lost his most recent start in Arizona, dropping a 7-2 decision to Milwaukee.

Meanwhile, Romano (2-6) is in the midst of a three-start losing streak. He’s been tagged for a total of 18 runs over a combined 12.2 innings in dropping games to San Francisco, Chicago and Colorado.

This will be just Romano’s second career appearance against the D-backs.

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