Dose of Venom: D-backs fall to Dodgers in three-game sweep

The Diamondbacks starting rotation may soon be undergoing another alteration.

If Randall Delgado and his 10.13 ERA were replaced, how soon before Trevor Cahill and his 9.17 ERA meet the same fate?

“We’ll have some conversations as we always do. We’re not where we want to be,” manager Kirk Gibson said after his team dropped its fifth straight to the Dodgers, 8-6. “We all know he has good stuff. He hasn’t been consistent.”

Cahill, owed $20 million through 2015, once again failed to make it past the fifth inning. He was roughed up for seven runs, six earned, on five hits, including two home runs, and a season-high five walks in four innings. At 0-4, he is off to the worst start of his six-year big league career.

“I’ve never … I don’t think struggled this bad,” Cahill said, “and it’s just that much harder on us to start the year. I’m just trying not to think about it, I guess.”

Matt Kemp homered off Cahill in the second, while Adrian Gonzalez smashed a three-run home run in the third, part of a four-run inning. Gonzalez feasted on Diamondbacks pitching in the series, going 7-for-13 with three home runs and 10 RBIs, raising his batting average nearly 100 points (.189 to .280) in the series. He leads all active players with 27 homers and 87 RBIs against the Diamondbacks in his career.

“Adrian has been swinging it good this series,” Cahill said. “Kind of got away from the game plan on him and left a pitch down and in right in his sweet spot.

The Diamondbacks, while they made it interesting with home runs from Eric Chavez and Mark Trumbo, have lost three in a row, and at 4-11 — including 1-8 at Chase Field — are off to the second-worst start in franchise history.

“Pretty frustrated, obviously,” Trumbo said.

THE GOOD

Gerardo Parra, who had three hits, became the first Diamondbacks right fielder to record a 9-3 putout. He fired a one-hop throw to first, just beating Dodgers pitcher Dan Haren to the bag. It was Parra’s first assist of the season and the 55th of his career.

Cahill struck out a season-high eight batters, one shy of his season total at the start of the day. He fanned two in every inning, including Yasiel Puig, Juan Uribe and Tim Federowicz twice each.

Trumbo snapped a 2-for-23 slump with a three-run home run in the seventh, plating career RBIs No. 300, 301 and 302. He leads the Majors with six home runs and 18 RBIs.

Chris Owings, who started the year 11-for-28, ended a 13 at-bat hitless streak with a one-out single in the second inning. He added a leadoff single in the fourth.

Chavez, making only his second start of the year, doubled his season hit total, going 2-for-4 with a walk.

THE BAD

Cahill allowed four stolen bases, including three in the third inning alone. Dee Gordon, after a one-out walk, stole second and third on consecutive pitches, while Puig, after he walked, swiped second. Gordon added a fourth stolen base, setting a single-game career-high, taking off for second as Randall Delgado tended to the mound with one out in the sixth.

Paul Goldschmidt, a night after going 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, went 0-for-3. The Diamondbacks as a team were 2-for-16 and finished 5-for-30 in the series.

Aaron Hill, despite hitting his first triple of the season, is 4-for-24 (.167) in his last six games.

Martin Prado has struck out looking in four of his last five plate appearances.

The Diamondbacks were swept for the second time this season.

STAT OF THE GAME

The Diamondbacks fell behind by scores of 4-0, 5-0 and 5-0 in the three games series and were outscored 13-3 in the first three innings combined.

HE SAID IT

“The pitching. The starting pitching. Is there a question about that?” Gibson answered when asked about the most concerning aspect of the season thus far. “We got five innings out of the guy today. Four. That’s tough. If you want one thing that you would want to go well you would want to get innings out of your starting pitchers. And not that they’re going to do it all the time, but we’ve had way too many short outings.”

NOTED

Despite it being 80 degrees outside the game was played with the roof closed for the first time all season.

It mattered little to Gonzalez who homered for the fourth straight game and recorded an extra-base hit for the eighth straight game.

The Diamondbacks have struck out 54 times in the past five games, reaching double figures four times including the last three games in a row.

The weekend’s series attendance of 103,480 was the largest for a three-game series at Chase Field since April 6-8, 2012 against the Cardinals (108,112).

Cody Ross is “fairly close” to returning; perhaps “sometime this week” according to Gibson. Ross is hitting .316 (6-for-19) with a double and five RBIs in six games with Triple-A Reno.

UP NEXT

The first extended homestand of the season continues with a three-game series against the New York Mets as they make their only visit to Chase Field. Game 1 is Monday with first pitch is scheduled for 6:40 and pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Josh Collmenter (0-0, 2.25) versus Zach Wheeler (0-2, 5.73) is the mound matchup.

It’s Collmenter’s first start of the season as he replaces Delgado in the rotation. Collmenter is 13-12 with a 4.03 ERA in 25 career starts, but he has not started a game since 2012 when he allowed one run in five innings against the Cubs on Sept. 30.

The Diamondbacks went 3-4 against the Mets, including 1-2 at home, last season.

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