Sedona Red Recap: Cueto tosses gem as Diamondbacks drop fifth in a row

PHOENIX — Both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants entered this weekend’s series looking to break out of slumps.

It’s only worked out for the Giants so far though.

Hunter Pence homered, Johnny Cueto delivered seven strong innings and six different San Francisco batters turned in multi-hit efforts as the Giants dismantled Arizona by a final of 11-3 in front of 32,301 fans at Chase Field on Saturday. The Giants got to starter Archie Bradley early, plating five runs in the first three innings. That was all Cueto would need.

The 30-year-old right-hander held Arizona to one hit in the first six innings, and ultimately finished the night with just two runs allowed over seven frames. He picked up his 15th win of the season in the process, while Bradley fell to 6-9.

With the loss, the Diamondbacks have dropped five straight and are now 20 games below .500 at home (25-45). Overall, they sit at 58-83.

THE BAD

-Cueto hurt Arizona at the plate as well, lining an elevated fastball into the outfield to give San Francisco a 4-0 lead in the third inning.

-One batter later, the Giants went up 5-0, courtesy of a wild pitch. That’s the second straight game that the D-backs have yielded a run on a wild pitch.

-San Francisco held a 5-0 lead before Arizona was able to hit a ball out of the infield.

-With baserunners few and far between for the Diamondbacks in this one, Brandon Drury was picked off of first after drawing a walk in the fifth.

-Zack Godley and Silvino Bracho were tagged for a combined six runs over just 1.1 innings of relief work.

THE GOOD

-Peter O’Brien drove a 2-2 pitch into the left field seats for his fifth longball of the year – a solo shot to cut the deficit to 5-1 in the third.

-Chris Owings, Jean Segura and Paul Goldschmidt combined to turn a slick double play on a sharp grounder off the bat of Angel Pagan in the sixth.

-Patrick Corbin looked solid in relief of Bradley, tossing three scoreless innings.

-Yasmany Tomas continued his breakout season by clubbing his 28th home run of the season into the left field seats in the bottom of the ninth.

STAT OF THE GAME

8: Number of runs Hunter Pence has scored in the first two games of this series.

HE SAID IT

“When he’s called upon, he’s ready. And he’s had some home runs off some really good pitchers up here. So that was impressive tonight.” – Chip Hale, on Peter O’Brien’s performance.

NOTED

-Less than 24 hours after using 12 pitchers in one game, the D-backs used five more tonight.

-Brandon Belt had what was originally called an eighth inning home run overturned by an umpire review.

-Both Goldschmidt and Randy Johnson celebrated birthdays today.

UP NEXT

These two clubs will wrap up this three-game series Sunday afternoon at Chase Field. Zack Greinke takes the mound for Arizona, while San Francisco counters with Matt Moore. First pitch is set for 1:10, with pregame coverage beginning at 12:30 on ESPN Phoenix 620.

Greinke (12-5) is coming off his worst start of the year. His former team from Los Angeles touched him up for eight earned runs over 4.2 innings – while also launching five home runs off the 32-year old righty — on Sept. 5.

After a rough outing on Opening Night, Greinke settled in to a pretty nice groove for the next few months. He went down with an oblique injury in late June though, and hasn’t quite been able to find his rhythm in six starts since returning from that. In 13 career starts against the Giants, however, he’s 9-1 with a 2.35 ERA

Moore (9-11) has been pitching pretty well since coming over from Tampa Bay in late July, but he felt the effects of Coors Field in his last outing. The lefty lasted just 2.2 innings, surrendering six runs in a 6-0 defeat to the Rockies.

In two career starts against the Diamondbacks, Moore is 1-1 with a 4.38 ERA.

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