ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Sedona Red Recap: Segura leads D-backs past Rockies for first 2016 home sweep

Sep 14, 2016, 11:10 PM

Arizona Diamondbacks' Jean Segura, left, celebrates his home run against the Colorado Rockies with ...

Arizona Diamondbacks' Jean Segura, left, celebrates his home run against the Colorado Rockies with Chris Owings during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The goal is 200, which is well within reach.

Jean Segura added five more hits to his season total, leaving him 18 short of the milestone with still 17 games to play.

Segura homered twice and singled three times in his six at-bats, helping the Arizona Diamondbacks complete the three-game series sweep of visiting Colorado, 11-6, in front of 19,801 at Chase Field on Wednesday.

It was the D-backs’ first home series sweep of the season and fifth overall.

Segura led off the game with a home run and hit a two-run home run, the latter of which highlighted a five-run fifth inning that bumped the D-backs’ lead from 2-1 to 7-1.

It marked Segura’s fourth multi-homer game of his career, third this season and second in as many nights.

Chris Owings and Brandon Drury also went deep. Owings hit a two-run shot in the sixth that made it 9-3 and Drury drilled a solo shot in the eighth for an 11-6 advantage.

The D-backs finished with 17 hits, extending their streak of 10 or more hits against the Rockies to 14 consecutive games, the longest such streak by a National League team against a single opponent in a single season since the 1930 Brooklyn Robins had a 17-game run of at least 10 hits against the Phillies.

The D-backs and Rockies combined for 53 runs on 86 hits in the three games.

THE GOOD

Like Yogi Berra often said, “It’s like deja vu, all over again.” For the second straight night, Segura opened the home-half of the first inning with a home run. He launched Jeff Hoffman’s 1-1 offering high and deep to left-center field, the ball landing on the concourse for his career-high 15th home run of the season and third in six at-bats. Segura homered twice Tuesday, part of his three-hit effort. The home run tied the game at 1.

Again, we’ve seen this script before. For the second straight night, Segura hit a pair of home runs. His second was a two-run shot lined into the left-field seats in the fifth inning to increase the D-backs’ lead to 4-1. This time, Segura hit the first pitch from Hoffman. Now with a career-high 16 home runs, Segura became the third player in D-backs history to hit multiple homers in back-to-back games, joining Reggie Sanders and Tony Clark.

Unofficially, Owings finished the day — not the game but the day — a single short of the cycle. Prior to the game, he was credited with a triple by MLB on a play that happened all the way back on Sept. 9 against the Giants, when he was originally ruled to have reached base on an error in the seventh inning. Add the home run and double he recorded once the game began, and Owings finished the day with three hits. Unofficially, of course.

Joining the home run party was Drury with a one-out solo shot in the eighth inning. With it, he became the first rookie in team history to homer in three straight games. Earlier in the fifth inning, he ripped a run-scoring double to make it 6-1 D-backs. It marked the sixth straight game in which Drury recorded an RBI, tying the team rookie record held by Mark Reynolds in 2007. Drury finished 3-for-5 and is now hitting .422 (27-for-64) in his last 18 games.

THE BAD

Limited to 60 pitches, De La Rosa threw 45 in his second start since May. Thirty-nine of those pitches came in a 21-minute first inning in which he faced seven batters but allowed only one run. Charlie Blackmon homered, his 27th of the season, to lead off the game. De La Rosa labored following that at-bat. His final pitching line included two hits, two walks and two strikeouts. Only 23 of his 45 pitches went for strikes.

Some leakage out of the D-backs bullpen made for some stressful late innings. Braden Shipley allowed five runs on eight hits, including a two-run home run by Daniel Descalso, in his four innings of work (75 pitches). It’s been a tough adjustment for Shipley having to go from starter to reliever and piggyback De La Rosa’s recent starts. To his credit, Shipley pitched three scoreless innings before running into trouble.

STAT OF THE GAME

1: It took more than five months, but the D-backs, in game No. 145, finally recorded their first home series sweep of the season

HE SAID IT

“It took long enough. We’d like to have done it earlier,” manager Chip Hale said, referring to the first home series sweep of the season

NOTED

– Segura became the first player in team history to hit a leadoff home run in consecutive games. It was his sixth leadoff homer this season, the seventh for his career.

– Segura became one of five leadoff hitters since 1913 to hit two or more home runs in consecutive games, and the second this season (also: Mookie Betts).

– Segura’s 16 home runs hitting leadoff this season are the second-most in team history, trailing only the 21 hit by Chris Young out of the No. 1 slot in 2007.

– Tonight marked the fourth time in team history that the D-backs have played in a game where both teams hit a leadoff home run according to STATS LLC.

– The D-backs and Rockies combined to score 265 runs in their season series; it is the highest combined total in the divisional era according to STATS LLC.

– Once again able to take advantage of the weather, the D-backs opened both the roof and panels at the start of the game. It was 93 degrees at first pitch.

– Before to the game, outfielder Mitch Haniger and left-hander Anthony Banda were named the organization’s Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year.

– Renowned acrobatic canine act Christian and Scooby finalists on season two of the hit TV show America’s Got Talent threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

UP NEXT

The homestand continues with a visit, the last visit of 2016, from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It’s a four-game series that opens with right-hander Archie Bradley and left-hander Rich Hill as the expected pitchers of record on Thursday. First-pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Bradley (6-9) is coming off his shortest outing of the season. He lasted only three innings, allowing five runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts in an 11-3 loss to the Giants.

That effort ended a run of two straight quality starts.

In his career against the Dodgers, Bradley is 0-1 with a 4.63 ERA in four appearances.

For Hill, meanwhile, this will be his fourth start since being acquired from the A’s on Aug. 1. And all he’s done in his prior three starts is win. Oh, and he has not allowed a run, pitching 19 innings with 20 strikeouts versus three walks.

Hill (12-3) is 1-1 with a 4.13 ERA in four career starts against the D-backs, who have dropped 10 of the 15 meetings with the Dodgers this season.

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