D-backs complete sweep, finish homestand 5-1 with win over Miami

PHOENIX — Are the Arizona Diamondbacks once again a good team? Or have they just beaten bad teams on this homestand?

Both are fair questions.

In winning two of three from Cincinnati and sweeping Miami, a pair of last place teams with even worse pitching staffs, the D-backs appeared to have righted the ship, especially offensively.

On the six-game homestand, in which they went 5-1, their bats accounted for a .266 average with 15 home runs, 39 RBI and 42 runs scored. By comparison, they hit just .168 with six home runs, 18 RBI and 18 runs scored during the prior 1-8 road trip.

Perhaps all that was needed was a return to Chase Field.

Sunday’s result followed a familiar script: The D-backs scored first, tacked on runs and once again dealt the Marlins a loss, their season-high sixth in a row, 6-1, in front of an announced crowd of 31,727.

The D-backs outscored the Marlins 21-4 in the series.

David Peralta homered, Daniel Descalso had two RBI and Ketel Marte went 2-for-2 with a run-scoring triple, after being inserted as a pinch-hitter late in the game.

Matt Koch (4-3) became the latest D-backs starter to benefit from the team’s rediscovered offense. He shut out the Marlins over seven innings, throwing just 84 pitches.

He allowed only three hits and struck out a career-high six to win back-to-back starts for the first time this season.

Dan Straily (2-2) suffered the loss.

The series sweep was the D-backs’ second of the season and first since taking three in a row from the Dodgers from April 2-4.

THE GOOD

Following Brian Anderson’s second-inning leadoff double, Koch retired nine straight batters, including a strikeout of Miguel Rojas, who appeared to swing and miss at ball four ending the Marlins’ scoring threat in the second. Through the first four innings, Koch, who had thrown 50 pitches at that point, kept the visitors off the scoreboard, allowing just two hits and striking out three.

Not known as a strikeout pitcher, Koch set a career-high with six. The sixth was a swing-and-miss by Starlin Castro, who was brought to one knee swinging though a 91.9 mph fastball, to end the sixth inning. Of Koch’s six strikeouts, five were swinging. In fact, only Straitly took a called third strike for the second out in the third inning. Coming into the game, Koch had struck out just 22 batters in eight starts, with none in two of his last three outings.

OK, so it was just a run-scoring groundout, but it was a Descalso run-scoring groundout. In other words, the man delivered yet again. With the bases loaded in the fifth inning, Descalso hit a ball sharply to first base to bring Nick Ahmed home from third for the game’s first run. For Descalso, who batted leadoff for just the third time this season, it marked his fifth RBI of the homestand and, more importantly, ninth go-ahead RBI in 2018.

Quick update: Descalso recorded six RBI during the homestand. The sixth was on a fly ball that center fielder Lewis Brinson badly misplayed in the seventh inning, which allowed two runs to score to make it 3-0 D-backs. Descalso was credited with a sacrifice fly and RBI, plating Jarrod Dyson, while the second run, Marte, scored on Brinson’s error. Back to Descalso: He now ranks second on the team in RBI (28), behind only A.J. Pollock (33).

Of Peralta’s four hits in the series, three were home runs. He went deep in back-to-back-to-back games for the first time in his career, hitting a leadoff homer in the eighth inning to extend the D-backs lead to 4-0. Peralta drilled an 0-1 fastball—clocked at 98.3 mph—from Tayron Guerrero over the fence in left field. Peralta has now hit 10 home runs, one shy of the team lead, which currently belongs to the injured Pollock.

Add Marte to the list of D-backs hitters starting to heat up. He doubled in the seventh and tripled in the eighth; the latter of which put the D-backs up 6-0. Marte went 5-for-9 in the series, with all five hits going for extra-bases (one double, two triples and two home runs) plus drove in four runs and scored three times. And then on the homestand, he finished 8-for-19 (.500) with one walk, five RBI and six runs scored.

THE BAD

Through three innings, all the D-backs had to show for themselves at the plate against Straily were a pair of walks. Both Jake Lamb and Descalso recorded two-out free passes in the first and third innings, respectively. Other than that, the D-backs were minus any offense, going hitless with two strikeouts. Straily needed 49 pitches, 31 strikes, to complete the three innings.

Playing the matchups, advantage Marlins in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded, one out and Straily struggling to find the strikezone—he walked three in the inning—manager Don Mattingly summoned left-hander Adam Conley to face the lefty Lamb. Three pitches later, Lamb, swinging at a 95.6 mph fastball, grounded into a 5-2-3 inning-ending double play, his first GIDP of the season.

STAT OF THE GAME

9: The D-backs hit nine home runs in the series, their most in a three-game set since Sept. 12-14, 2016 against the Rockies

HE SAID IT

“Coming home, we want to protect our home field. You’re familiar with all your surroundings and you have this type of series it does kind of hit the reset button for you,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “But, going through what we went through is a tough stretch, is a very tough grinding stretch but that’s part of a baseball season. It comes and goes with every organization. I think we grew and learned from it. I think we showed some toughness and it’s going to prepare us for those tough stretches that lie ahead.”

NOTED

Koch threw a first-pitch strike to 13 of the 22 batters he faced; in addition, he reached a 3-ball count only two times

Dyson walked twice in his four at-bats, and he has now reached base safely in 12 of his last 22 plate appearances

With a first-pitch temperature of 103 degrees, the game was played inside with both the roof and the panels closed

As part of Native American Recognition Day, the D-backs recognized several of Arizona’s Tribal Royalty contingent

As part of the recognition, Gila River Indian Community Lt. Governor Robert Stone threw out the ceremonial first pitch

UP NEXT

A road trip featuring six games against the division. The D-backs will play a pair of three-game series at San Francisco and at Colorado, with an off day in-between.

The fun begins on Monday, June 4 with Zack Godley getting the start in the series opener with the Giants. He’ll be opposed by left-hander Derek Holland. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 with pregame coverage beginning 45 minutes earlier on 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station.

Godley (5-4) is coming off a six-inning win over the Reds, his first victory since April 27. He’s pitched at least six innings in three of his last four starts.

In five career games, including three starts, facing the Giants, Godley is 2-1, with that second win coming earlier this season, when he threw seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts and zero walks on April 9.

It was Holland (3-6) who Godley beat that day at AT&T Park.

In his first season with the Giants, Holland has made 11 starts, though just once has he pitched into the seventh inning. He won at Colorado in his last outing.

By the way, this season, the D-backs are 4-2 against the Giants and 2-1 against the Rockies.

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