Sedona Red Recap: Zack Godley not enough as D-backs fall to Blue Jays

With their two big-ticket rotation arms currently unavailable, the Arizona Diamondbacks turned to right-hander Zack Godley on Tuesday.

That didn’t work.

Recalled from Triple-A Reno earlier in the day, Godley looked good early. But the second time through the order, the Toronto Blue Jays roughed him up for four runs, three earned, in a series-opening 5-1 victory before an announced crowd of 26,626 at Chase Field.

Of the four runs Godley (2-1) allowed, three came on one swing of the bat. Toronto’s Edwin Encarnacion hit his team-leading 25th home run of the season, a three-run shot in the third inning that erased a 1-0 D-backs lead.

The Blue Jays’ Josh Donaldson added an RBI single in the fifth, the last inning Godley would pitch.

Godley struck out a career-high-tying seven batters, but failed in his attempt to become the first D-back to win each of his first five home starts.

Despite his mid-inning struggles, Godley is expected to remain in the rotation, a spot that opened up with Zack Greinke’s extended stay on the disabled list and Shelby Miller’s demotion to the minors.

Offensively, the D-backs appeared handcuffed against Aaron Sanchez (10-1).

Outside of an RBI groundout by Paul Goldschmidt, the D-backs did nothing as Sanchez, a first-time American League All-Star, won his ninth straight decision—the longest active streak in the league—scattering six hits over seven innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out six.

In winning their second straight, the Blue Jays put an end to the D-backs’ modest two-game winning streak.

THE GOOD

Get ’em on, get ’em over and get ’em in. It was textbook situational baseball for the D-backs in the first inning. Jean Segura led off with a single to right field, stole second, advanced to third on Michael Bourn’s groundout and scored one batter later on Goldschmidt’s RBI groundball to the first baseman. Putting the D-backs ahead 1-0 marked Goldschmidt’s 29th RBI over his last 35 games and 62nd of the season.

With a double in his first at-bat and single in his second, Yasmany Tomas raised his batting average five points to .254. It marked his first multi-hit effort of the month. Tomas entered the game sporting a .150 batting average (6-for-40, no extra-base hits) with three RBI, three walks and eight strikeouts over 10 games in July. He finished 2-for-4, reaching base safely for the 18th time in his past 20 games.

THE BAD

Retiring eight of the first nine batters he faced, Godley appeared well on his way to a quality outing. Unfortunately the third inning, specifically the third out, proved to be his undoing. Back-to-back two-out hits by Devon Travis and Donaldson were followed by Encarnacion’s 25th home run of the season, his ninth in 63 at-bats at Chase Field. The homer, an 81-mph 2-1 curveball, made it 3-1 Toronto.

Two innings later, Godley did himself no favors with a two-base throwing error, helping lead to the Blue Jays fourth run of the game. With one out, Travis singled. He then advanced to third on a pickoff attempt gone wrong as Godley’s throw sailed past Goldschmidt. Four pitches later, Donaldson grounded a ball between third and shortstop into left field for a run-scoring base hit, putting Toronto ahead, 4-1.

Perhaps the D-backs need to work on their pickoff attempts. A second throwing error, this time in the ninth inning, led to a second unearned run scored by the Blue Jays. With one out in the ninth inning, Justin Smoak walked, advanced to second on an error, then third on a wild pitch and eventually scored on Travis’ groundout to make it 5-1 Toronto. Both the error and wild pitch were committed by Dominic Leone, who did finish the inning.

STAT OF THE GAME

0-for-10: The D-backs failed in seven attempts to record a hit with runners in scoring position, leaving a combined five runners at either second or third base

HE SAID IT

“Not great,” Godley said of his outing. “I made a couple of bad pitches that they made me pay for. The one that Encarnacion hit, and then the one play that I botched, the pickoff. Other than that, I just threw too many pitches.”

NOTED

– Encarnacion has eight homers and 15 RBI in his past seven games at Chase Field.

– Segura, who went 2-for-3 with two singles, has hit safely in 14 of his past 17 games.

– Wearing their home alternate teal with teal outline ‘A’ cap, the D-backs are now 5-12.

– With a first-pitch temperature of 106 degrees, both the roof and panels were closed.

– Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

– Arizona Coyotes prospects Brendan Perlini and Conor Garland took batting practice.

UP NEXT

A day after celebrating his 27th birthday, D-backs lefty Patrick Corbin takes the mound against right-hander Marcus Stroman in the series-finale on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Corbin (4-8) will look to end a two-start losing streak and four-start winless drought.

Corbin’s last win came against the Blue Jays in Toronto, when he held the AL East squad to two runs on nine hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 6.1 innings on June 21. Since then, however, Corbin has not reached the six-inning mark and failed to go at least five innings in three of the four outings.

For his career, Corbin has made six interleague appearances, recording four quality starts.

Meanwhile, Stroman (7-4) is coming off a subpar performance at Oakland, where he was tagged for seven runs (six earned) in 4.2 innings. He allowed a season-high three home runs.

Though he’s never faced the D-backs, Stroman is a perfect 4-0 in eight career interleague appearances, including five starts.

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