Diamondbacks are in a difficult spot approaching the halfway point of the season

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks had a rough weekend at Chase Field between losing a winnable series against the Minnesota Twins and getting walloped by unwelcome injury updates.

Jose Cabrera threw five shutout innings in his MLB debut on Sunday to provide a jolt, and the D-backs led 2-0 entering the seventh inning, but a rare bullpen misadventure mixed with an offense that failed to drive in runs resulted in a 4-2 loss to Minnesota.

The Diamondbacks had a stretch of series after facing the Los Angeles Dodgers against clubs that are two games over .500 or worse, a part of the schedule to take advantage of.

They went 6-9 in those 15 games and now face the task of pushing forward knowing Corbin Burnes and A.J. Puk suffered setbacks, while Ryne Nelson, Michael Soroka and Jordan Lawlar went on the injured list.

“The easy thing to do is feel sorry for ourselves, but I don’t think that group is,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’re going to get this thing turned around. I think, given the day or the night, we put two-thirds of our game together, offense and defense, maybe pitching and defense. We’ve got to put it all together and start playing very consistent baseball.”

“I feel like we’re in a tough spot,” shortstop Geraldo Perdomo said. “We as an offense, we need to fight. Sucks we lost Lawlar … but we need to play good baseball before those guys come back. Those guys are important for us.”

The schedule is getting a lot tougher, as five of their next six opponents heading into the All-Star break are above .500 and four are in postseason position.

It starts with the surprisingly competitive St. Louis Cardinals for four games starting on Monday. Arizona will face the division-leading Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers as part of this stretch before the Midsummer Classic.

The Diamondbacks are 39-38, still hovering around .500 and only one game back of the third National League Wild Card spot. General manager Mike Hazen told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke last week that he was planning on buying at the trade deadline, but this team is going to have to play much more consistent, complementary baseball over the next six weeks in order to make that a reality.

Cabrera provided energy to Chase Field and earned another opportunity to fill Nelson’s spot in the rotation despite having only started three games in Triple-A Reno before his call-up. The D-backs have to figure out Soroka’s spot with Brandon Pfaadt getting stretched out in Reno and prospect Kohl Drake having been called up for length out of the bullpen on Sunday.

Center field has also become a question mark due to Lawlar’s injury, as the light-hitting Jorge Barrosa has started the last two games. Tim Tawa is an option, as is Tommy Troy, although Lovullo said he wanted Troy to work with outfielders coach Dave McKay more before trusting him in center field. Top prospect Ryan Waldschmidt is getting reps in Triple-A after having been sent down.

First base and designated hitter have already been holes in the lineup, and Lawlar was set to alleviate some of the center field struggles.

“This is baseball,” Perdomo said. “It sucks because we were going to be healthy. We don’t want to lose any players. But at the end of the day, this is baseball. A lot of (expletive) is going to happen.”

“We got to digest what happened here over the past couple of days,” Lovullo said. “It’s frustrating, and we’ve got to find a way to go out to St. Louis and start a fresh series and win game one.”

By the end of the Cardinals’ series, the Diamondbacks will have played 81 games, the exact midway point of the schedule.

They have not played their best baseball, a theme that has been brought up all homestand.

The question is, can they ever get there?

The Diamondbacks are going to have to find something — whether that involves improvements from Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen, an offense heating up or a surprise roster move — to remain an above .500 team by the time the All-Star break rolls around.

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