Homers hurt Corbin as Diamondbacks fall to Mets and Harvey

NEW YORK — Arizona Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin found things a little more difficult in his second start after returning from 2014 Tommy John surgery.

Corbin pitched into the sixth inning, allowing four runs and four hits as the Diamondbacks lost to the New York Mets, 4-2 on Saturday.

Corbin (1-1) was outstanding for four innings, allowing only a first-inning single to Michael Cuddyer, while striking out five, including four straight. However, he ran into trouble in the fifth.

Lucas Duda hit a 2-0 pitch over the center-field wall for the Mets’ first run of the game. Corbin walked Eric Campbell and then served up a first-pitch home run to opposing starter Matt Harvey. It was Harvey’s first career home run.

“Just trying to throw a strike and get ahead and he put a good swing on it and it’s unfortunate that it went out,” Corbin said. “More times than not, he swings and misses or gets out on it. Just some tough luck there.”

Left fielder David Peralta thought a fan might have interfered with the ball, prompting a crew chief review. After a delay of 1 minute, 49 seconds, the home run stood.

“I thought it wasn’t a homer because I saw the fan reaching to get the ball,” Peralta said.

Ruben Tejada homered leading off the sixth inning to end Corbin’s day. The three homers allowed were a career-high.

Despite the final stat line, manager Chip Hale was pleased with Corbin’s overall effort.

“He was so good early and that’s a really good sign,” Hale said. “That’s what we talk about, coming back from Tommy John. He pitched beautifully early and that’s something we’ll build on.”

After All-Star A.J. Pollock walked to lead off the game, Peralta hit Harvey’s first pitch into the stands for his eighth home run. The Diamondbacks would only muster three more hits the rest of the game.

“We got the 2-0 lead on a nice home run by David and (Harvey) really went to his off-speed stuff, kind of like Noah Syndergaard used a lot of off-speed changeup, curveball and an occasional high fastball (on Friday)l,” Hale said. “We have to make the adjustment. That’s what a good offense does and we usually are.”

Despite having the highest-scoring offense in the National League, the Mets’ duo of Harvey and Syndergaard have kept the Diamondbacks offense at bay, allowing only nine hits and striking out 22 in their combined 15 innings of work.

“They’re good,” Hale added. “There’s a reason why these guys are two of the best young pitchers in baseball.”

“Hopefully we’ll keep having good at-bats and find ways to score more runs,” said Diamondbacks slugger Paul Goldschmidt, who is 0-7 with four strikeouts over the first two games of the series. “If you want to win games, you probably got to score more than two runs.”

Corbin, a native of Cicero, New York, pitched in front of family members for the first time in nearly two years and will look to build on this start as he continues his recovery.

“I felt pretty good overall with everything and just happy that I’m coming out healthy again,” he said. “Just wish I could have done a little better.”

Jeurys Familia got the last three outs for his 26th save in 28 chances.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Diamondbacks: Manager Chip Hale said that his starting rotation, after the upcoming All-Star break, would be set up to give Chase Anderson as much rest as possible. According to Hale, Robbie Ray would get the start in the team’s first game following the break, against San Francisco and would be followed by Jeremy Hellickson, Corbin, Rubby De La Rosa and finally, Anderson.

UP NEXT:

Mets LHP Jonathon Niese (4-8, 3.58 ERA) matches up with Diamondbacks RHP Rubby De La Rosa (6-4, 4.89 ERA) in the first half finale for both teams.

ON THE PITCH

New York Cosmos Striker Raul Gonzalez was on the field with his family taking in batting practice. Better known as simply Raul, he is regarded as one of the greatest soccer players in Spanish history, garnering most of his notoriety while playing with powerhouse Real Madrid.