Diamondbacks shut out by Cubs, don’t lose ground in Wild Card race

PHOENIX — Merrill Kelly hung in there for as long as he could, but the Chicago Cubs eventually flattened the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-0 on Monday at Chase Field.

At least the Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres and Miami Marlins also lost on Monday, so the D-backs did not lose any ground in a tight National League Wild Card race.

The most life the Diamondbacks showed may have been from the dugout, as there was chirping between the two sides that began in the fifth inning. The D-backs believed Chicago third base coach Quintin Berry was stealing signs from Kelly.

Ultimately, the Cubs have had the Diamondbacks’ number this season, winning all four games so far.

The Diamondbacks dropped to 69-63, still two games back of the third NL Wild Card spot.

Cubs’ trade addition shuts down D-backs

In a clash of teams who experienced much different trade deadline outcomes, the aggressive Cubs benefitted from a gem start out of Kevin Gausman, the veteran starter who came over from Toronto.

Gausman tossed seven shutout innings with three hits, his best effort since joining Chicago. The Diamondbacks’ offense failed to put multiple base runners on against him in any inning.

The right-hander threw way more fastballs than usual (66% compared to 51% on average), and it seemed to throw the D-backs off. Corbin Carroll looked at fastballs down the middle for strike three twice.

“The Cubs are a good baseball team. So are we,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve got to be able to play our game, do the things that we do best, and that’s control counts, get on base, create some traffic, slug. We just couldn’t get anything going today. Their starting pitcher was very effective.”

Monday’s game was as hapless as the Diamondbacks’ offense has looked on this homestand with five hits, one walk and a meager 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. They only struck out six times and hardly whiffed, but the quality of contact was mostly poor (.186 expected average).

Early offense has been a recent struggle for the Diamondbacks, who have failed to score over the first three innings in six of their last eight contests.

Merrill Kelly: not perfect but better

As for Kelly, this game looked like it would unravel early under his watch and was followed by some lively shouting from both dugouts.

In the second inning, Kelly walked Chicago’s eight and ninth hitters to get to MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong with the bases loaded and two outs. His control issues had carried over (11 walks in his last four starts), and he threw one of the most dangerous hitters in the game a hanging slider. Crow-Armstrong just got under it and flew out to center field.

The Cubs led 1-0, but the D-backs were not buried early.

Kelly ended up faring decently well from there, getting through 5.2 innings with two earned runs before he left an inherited runner aboard for Taylor Clarke in the sixth inning. It wasn’t pretty or a return to form from his great July, but Kelly got off the schneid after a couple duds.

“Felt like everything was a lot sharper, location was better,” Kelly said. Definitely a step in the right direction.”

His exit on Monday led to the dam breaking for an Arizona team that gave its pitchers no room for error, as Michael Conforto and Carson Kelly hit back-to-back home runs off Clarke to put the game away.

Crow-Armstrong went 0-for-5, and the Cubs scored seven runs on 10 hits anyway.

The split crowd felt like a Cubs advantage without much to cheer about for the home fans.

Monday attendance

28,704

Tuesday probables: Diamondbacks face Holmes

Brandon Pfaadt (7-1, 3.39 ERA) will pitch for the Diamondbacks on Tuesday, while the Cubs will start right-hander Clay Holmes (5-2, 2.49 ERA).

The D-backs attempted to acquire Holmes from the Mets at the trade deadline, but New York backed out of the potential deal due to medical concerns with the returning prospect package. The Mets turned around and flipped Holmes to Chicago for top-100 prospect Jefferson Rojas.

The Cubs added five players at the deadline, revamping their starting rotation, while the D-backs settled for one, outfielder Lars Nootbaar.

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