Grit Index: Wild pitches, lack of offense doom D-backs in series finale

His team needed him to step up and he did but, ultimately, the Arizona Diamondbacks couldn’t do the same for their starting pitcher Thursday.

Trevor Cahill, in his second start since being activated from the 15-day disabled list, allowed just one run over seven innings in a no-decision loss to the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1.

Despite walking four and throwing three wild pitches, the embattled right-hander managed to strand baserunners throughout the game, striking out seven Reds hitters.

But outside of a fourth-inning run, the Diamondbacks couldn’t crack Reds starter Mat Latos, who improved to 13-4 in the win.

Paul Goldschmidt was 3-for-4 and Adam Eaton and Aaron Hill each collected a pair of hits, with Eaton scoring the team’s lone run, but offense was otherwise hard to come by Thursday.

The game ended up hinging on an eighth-inning Eury De La Rosa wild pitch with Joey Votto at the plate, which scored Shin Soo-Choo, who was standing on third base.

Scott LeCure came in to close out the ninth for the Reds, with Aroldis Chapman shelved following his two-inning save the night before. Despite a leadoff hit from Goldschmidt and an infield single from Hill an out later, the Diamondbacks’ late rally fell short, with Jason Kubel striking out and Wil Nieves grounding out to second base to end the game.

The Good:

Trevor Cahill was stellar in his second start back from the disabled list, holding the Reds — who scored 10 runs on Wednesday — to just one on Thursday. Cahill hadn’t held an opponent to less than two runs since May 17.

The Bad:

With the loss, the Diamondbacks fell to 7 games back in the NL Wild Card race and 9.5 back in the NL West.

Up Next:

The Diamondbacks will make their final stop of the road trip in Philadelphia, where Wade Miley (9-8, 3.56 ERA) will take on Cole Hamels (5-13, 3.61 ERA) on Friday. First pitch is at 4:05 PM MDT and can be heard on Arizona Sports 620 AM.