Sedona Red Recap: D-backs drop second straight to Rockies

PHOENIX — Now the Arizona Diamondbacks are trending in the other direction.

After a franchise-record 13-game winning streak, the D-backs have lost two straight and four of five overall.

Their latest setback: A 4-2 defeat to the Colorado Rockies in front of an announced crowd of 27,526 at Chase Field on Tuesday.

By taking the first two games of the four-game series, the Rockies sit just three-games back for the top Wild Card spot in the National League.

Colorado has won six straight and eight in a row on the road.

Carlos Gonzalez accounted for all of the Rockies’ scoring with a pair of two-run home runs, his 11th and 12th long balls of the season.

Gonzalez homered in the third off starter Taijuan Walker to put the Rockies in front 2-1. Then, with the game tied at 2 in the seventh, he homered off David Hernandez (2-1).

Jon Gray (8-4) pitched seven innings to earn the win. He held the D-backs to two runs on seven hits, including a J.D. Martinez solo home run, with no walks and a season-high tying 10 strikeouts.

Martinez had two of the D-backs eight total hits.

Walker, meanwhile, deserved better. He recorded a quality start, allowing two runs on four hits in six innings. He walked five and struck out six. His three-start winning streak ended, but he is now unbeaten over his last five outings.

The D-backs dropped to 9-8 against the Rockies this season

THE GOOD

Five straight games, Martinez has driven in a run; that’s a season-long streak. His home run to lead off the second inning — on a 1-0 fastball clocked at 96.2 mph — bounced off the bottom of the video board in center field, traveling an estimated 447 feet, to give the D-backs a 1-0 lead. It was his 22nd homer in 47 games with the D-backs and 38th overall, which tied a career-high for a season.

Besides Martinez, David Peralta was the only other D-backs batter to record multiple hits in the game. Peralta singled in each of his first two plate appearances. He finished 2-for-4 with a strikeout. Peralta is now just three hits shy of matching his career-high of 144 which he set back in 2015. His hit total is second-best on the team, trailing only Paul Goldschmidt (154).

THE BAD

It’s called a shutdown inning, and Walker failed to record one after being handed a 1-0 lead to start the third inning. Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon walked and after D.J. LeMahieu struck out, Gonzalez clubbed a 1-0 offering over the pool in right field for a two-run home run. It was his 11th homer of the season and also his 11th homer all-time at Chase Field. Walker tried to sneak a 92.1 mph fastball past Gonzalez but was obviously unsuccessful.

Bases loaded, no outs and the D-backs could only plate one run. Got to be better than that. Each of the first three batters reached base safely to begin the fourth inning, including Walker, who led off with a single. Walker, however, would be the only base runner to score. He came home on Jake Lamb’s game-tying sacrifice fly, his 99th RBI of the season. Goldschmidt followed lining into a 6-4, inning-ending double play.

Four innings after giving the Rockies their first lead of the game, Gonzalez put the visitors back in front, 4-2, with another two-run home run. Here’s how it went down: With one out and a runner on first base in the seventh inning, Gonzalez lined a 2-1 curveball into the seats in right field, giving him his first multi-homer game of the season and 20th of his career. Gonzalez is batting .438 (14-for-32) here in the month of September.

STAT OF THE GAME

0-for-7: The D-backs went hitless in seven opportunities with runners in scoring position; they are 2-for-17 in the series thus far.

HE SAID IT

“A tough loss,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’re fighting for the same turf against the Colorado Rockies. Our guys are very well aware of what’s at stake, and we just got to get after it, understand what happened tonight and grind it out tomorrow.”

NOTED

– Walker threw a first-pitch strike to 15-of-27 batters faced and reached a 3-ball count five times.

– Martinez went 2-for-4 and is now hitting .455 (20-for-44) with nine home runs in his last 10 games.

– Ketel Marte went 0-for-4, ending a seven-game hitting streak in which he was hitting at a .423 clip.

– With a first pitch temperature of 105 degrees, the game was played with the roof and panels closed.

– The first-ever Suns Night included having center Alan Williams throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

UP NEXT

Coming off his first loss in more than a month, Patrick Corbin takes the mound in game three of the series on Wednesday. The Rockies counter with rookie right-hander German Marquez.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station.

Corbin (13-12) was hit hard his last time out. The Padres tagged him for eight runs on 11 hits — season-worsts in both categories — in 4.1 innings to snap a five-start winning streak, which included a victory over the Rockies on Sept. 2.

This will be Corbin’s 16th career start versus the Rockies. He’s 6-3 with six quality outings.

Meanwhile, Marquez (10-6), who leads all rookies with 136 strikeouts, is winless in his last four appearances. He went just four innings, allowing four runs, two earned, on six hits at the Dodgers five days ago.

Martinez is 0-2 in five starts against the D-backs.

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