Diamondbacks swept by Rockies, eliminated from playoff hunt Sunday

PHOENIX – The Arizona Diamondbacks spent 125 days in first place in the National League West this season.

The tides have turned. Shortly after the D-backs were eliminated from postseason contention with wins by the Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals, they were swept by fellow NL West team Colorado Rockies.

The D-backs lost 2-0.

Zack Godley started for the D-backs and had a good outing despite not getting the win. Although he allowed six hits and walked two in five innings, Godley was able to dial up five strikeouts and harmless flyouts when needed that kept the team in the game.

Godley’s only costly mistakes were an RBI-double in the third inning by Nolan Arenado and an RBI-single by Gerardo Parra in the fifth. DJ LeMahieu scored both runs.

“I got ahead with strike one, and they were really patient. Just kinda the exact opposite of the approach they took to me in my last outing against them and just kinda the way they’ve been for the majority of this season,” Godley said. “It’s kind of a change of pace, but I was able to get ahead and get guys out.”

The D-backs were in the game. They just couldn’t provide Godley with any run support.

Offensively, the D-backs are still MIA. Excluding the game against the Chicago Cubs on September 19 where manager Torey Lovullo started his backups, you would have to go back 11 games to find the last time they scored 5+ runs.

Prior to Sunday’s game, Lovullo addressed a number of factors that he felt has contributed to the offensive inconsistency this season.

“Those are things that we’re going to look at, we’re going to figure out, and try to understand why it backed up on us,” he said.

“What went wrong? Probably ten different things, and they all have an equal impact,” Lovullo confessed. “Maybe the humidor and the numbers that I talked to you guys about at the midway point in the season had something to do with it. Maybe the injuries. I don’t know. There’s a few things I will go over.”

The offense was still seemed lost in this game and was unable to figure out Kyle Freeland and the Rockies’ pitching staff. Freeland went seven innings, allowing seven hits and no runs with six strikeouts and one walk.

The D-backs will look to play spoiler and defender of Chase Field as they do battle with division leader Los Angeles Dodgers in their next series and attempt to prevent them from celebrating clinching yet another NL West division title at Chase Field.

THE GOOD

–David Peralta is hitting .400 against the Rockies this season with five doubles, four home runs and 13 RBI.

–Godley allowed two runs or fewer in a start for the 17th time this season. This was his first start in September with two runs or fewer allowed.

–The bullpen didn’t give up any runs in four innings of work.

THE BAD

–The D-backs snapped their 56 consecutive game streak with an extra-base hit.

–Charlie Blackmon extended his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games in the first at bat of the game.

–Godley didn’t have an inning pitched without a base runner. He started four of his five innings pitched by allowing the first batter of the inning to reach base. While he did do a great job at limiting the damage, the Rockies were a threat to score throughout his time on the mound.

–Paul Goldschmidt went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

STAT OF THE GAME

.238 – After dropping to 5-16, .238 is the D-backs winning percentage in the month of September

HE SAID IT

“We’ve had a lot of confidence from the first day of Spring Training that we could play well enough to make the playoffs and then make a run in them, but especially these last few weeks we didn’t play well enough. You’re going to think back on it and, you know, it just stinks. You want to play well enough, and we didn’t play well enough.” – Paul Goldschmidt after the loss.

NOTED

–The D-backs are 1-5 in this current homestand.

–Sunday’s game was Fan Appreciation Day at Chase Field with a number of promotions and contests that included one lucky fan winning a 2018 Ford Echosport.

–The D-backs have reached the 2 million mark for fan attendance in all 21 seasons of the team’s existence.

–First pitch was at 1:10 p.m. with an indoor temp of 75 degrees and an outdoor temperature of 96 degrees. 29,191 were in attendance.

UP NEXT

The D-backs will look to defend Chase Field in their final home series of the year against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday. Lefty Robbie Ray will face off against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

Ray is 6-2 this season with a 3.92 ERA. He has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his last nine starts. Since August 1, he is ranked fifth in the NL in opponent batting at .176. He has three consecutive quality starts at home.

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