Sedona Red Recap: D-backs close Giants series with loss

A day that began with ace Zack Greinke being placed on the disabled list ended with further disappointment for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Going for their fourth home series win of the season against the San Francisco Giants, the D-backs instead suffered their 15th series defeat, losing the finale of the three-game set, 5-4, in 11 innings in front of an announced Chase Field crowd of 26,171 on Sunday.

Pinch-hitter Ramiro Pena hit the go-ahead RBI double.

The Giants scored four unanswered runs with a pair of two-out, two-run hits to erase an early 1-0 deficit. Mac Williamson plated two with a single in the third and Brandon Belt doubled home two in the fourth as the Giants have now won three of four following a three-game losing streak.

Four Giants’ runs were charged to Robbie Ray, who escaped with a no-decision. He pitched six innings, scattering eight hits with two walks and eight strikeouts.

Ray is winless over his last three starts.

Paul Goldschmidt and Jake Lamb both homered while Brandon Drury added an RBI double for the D-backs.

Lamb’s homer tied the game at 4 in the eighth, forcing extra innings. He has a team-high 58 RBI.

The Diamondbacks, 2-5 in extra-inning contests, have lost seven of eight to fall a season-high-tying 15-games out of first place.

THE GOOD

Though it was his own doing, Ray pitched himself out of a one-out, bases-loaded situation in the first inning. After striking out Ruben Tejada to begin the game, Ray allowed the next three batters to reach base safely with a four-pitch walk sandwiched around a pair of singles. Ray kept the Giants off the scoreboard with a strikeout and ground out to end the threat, needing 26 pitches to get the job done.

Back-to-back one-out doubles handed the D-backs an early 1-0 lead in the second inning. Drury lined the first pitch he saw—a 91-mph sinker—off the base of the left-field wall to plate Phil Gosselin, who had doubled off the left-center wall in the previous at-bat. For Drury, making his 11th start in left field, it was his 19th RBI. He entered the day seventh among National League rookies in that category.

It was just his second hit in the series, but it was hit very, very far. Leading off the sixth inning, Goldschmidt tattooed starting pitcher Albert Suarez’s 2-2 pitch, a slider that clocked in at 79 mph, off the batter’s eye in straight-away center field to make it a 4-2 ballgame. The home run, Goldschmidt’s 15th, measured at 436-feet and was the 131st of his career, one shy of Chris Young for third-most on the club’s all-time list.

For the fourth time in five games, Lamb put a ball out of the ballpark. It happened in the eighth inning. With Goldschmidt on first base having reached safely on a one-out error, Lamb laced a 3-2 pitch, a slider from Cory Gearrin that clocked in at 84-mph, into the seats in right field, tying that game at 4. Eleven of Lamb’s 19 home runs this year have tied or given the D-backs the lead, the most in the league.

THE BAD

Flirt with fire enough times and eventually you’re going to get burned. Once again staring at the bases loaded—this time with two outs—Ray, after a mound visit from pitching coach Mike Butcher, served up a first-pitch 94-mph fastball that Williamson singled sharply up the middle to score a pair, giving the Giants their first lead, 2-1, in the third inning.

An inning later, Ray found himself in trouble once again. With two outs and runners on second and third, Belt, behind in the count 0-2, lined hard Ray’s 97-fastball into left field for a double—his league-leading 26th—clearing the bases and extending the Giants lead to 4-1. Drury made a diving attempt at the ball, but it was just beyond his reach.

The numbers suggest he’s deserving of All-Star consideration, and Lamb is most certainly deserving as he ranks among the top 10 in home runs and RBI. However, one number may keep him off the team: 77. That’s the number of times Lamb has struck out this season, the most on the D-backs. He went down swinging three times in five at-bats.

Five D-backs relievers had combined for four shutout innings until reliever Enrique Burgos’ appearance in the 11th inning. Following a leadoff walk to Jarrett Parker, Pena ripped a 1-0 slider clocked at 89-mph down the right field line and into the corner for a go-ahead RBI double. It marked Burgos’ third time in four appearances allowing at least one run.

STAT OF THE GAME

8: The number of Giants runs scored with two outs in the series; four on Friday and four on Sunday.

HE SAID IT

“It was a good battle,” Arizona manager Chip Hale said. “Obviously, you tie it at home you feel like you’ve got a good chance to win it. We had plenty of pitching today; just couldn’t get that clean (inning) from Burgos.”

NOTED

– Ray threw a first-pitch strike to 22 of the 29 batters faced in six innings, including 13 of the first 16.

– Goldschmidt’s sixth-inning home run moved him into fifth place on the club’s all-time hit list with 759.

– Andrew Chafin extended his hitless outings’ streak to nine straight games, matching the club record.

– Tuffy Gosewisch singled twice, in the second and seventh innings, going 2-for-4 in his season debut.

– Chris Herrmann (hamstring) was scratched from the original lineup. Fe struck out as a pinch-hitter in 7th.

– Rickie Weeks, Jr. (bereavement list) was reinstated to the active roster after his grandfather’s death.

– Nick Ahmed (paternity list) is expected to rejoin the D-backs on Monday following the birth of his son.

– Wearing their home red alternate uniforms with red gradient “D” cap, the D-backs dropped to 4-11.

– With a first-pitch temperature of 101 degrees, the game was played with the roof and panels closed.

UP NEXT

The homestand continues with a three-game set against San Diego.

Right-handers Archie Bradley and Luis Perdomo take the mound in the series opener on Monday, July 4. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Bradley (3-3) will be making his career-high ninth start. He’s pitched well, allowing one run or fewer in back-to-back and three of his last five appearances.

As good as that sounds, however, Bradley has just one win over that stretch.

His career versus the Padres is limited to just one outing, a career-high 7.1 innings with nine strikeouts in a 6-3 victory on May 29.

Meanwhile, Perdomo (2-3) is very familiar with the D-backs, seeing them for a fifth time this season, all in relief.

Perdomo, a 23-year-old rookie, is set to make his fourth straight start and sixth overall. He’s 1-2 with a 7.71 ERA (20 ER in 23.1 IP) when beginning games.

The D-backs have won four of six against the Padres this season, including winning two of three at Chase Field in late May.

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