Sedona Red Recap: D-backs fall to the Giants for sixth straight loss

Consistency, it’s something the Arizona Diamondbacks have been searching for all season.

Well, they finally found it — just in the opposite direction they had hoped or needed, especially if they want to make a playoff push here in 2015.

The D-backs dropped a sixth straight game, extending their season-worst stretch, losing a 2-1 decision to the San Francisco Giants in front of an announced crowd of 27,173 at Chase Field on Sunday.

All-Star starter Madison Bumgarner and four relievers combined to limit the D-backs to that single run, an RBI fielder’s choice, to complete the three-game series sweep.

It was the Giants’ sixth straight win.
Bumgarner (10-5) scattered four hits with one walk and three strikeouts before he was pulled after a 93-pitch five-inning effort.

Birthday boy Patrick Corbin countered with a five-inning performance of his own. He allowed a run in the second, a solo home run by Justin Maxwell, and another in the third, an RBI double by Hunter Pence.

After the Pence hit, Corbin, who turned 26, retired seven in a row. He was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the inning after his pitch count had reached 86, the most he’s thrown in the three starts since his return from Tommy John surgery.

Corbin (1-2) threw a first-pitch strike to 12 of the 21 batters he faced.

The D-backs were swept for the fifth time this season.

THE GOOD

Smart, aggressive base running allowed Paul Goldschmidt to stretch a single into a double with two outs in the first inning. The hustle-double was his team-best 21st two-bagger of the season. And though he was stranded there at second base, Goldschmidt — who finished 2-for-4 — has now hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games against the Giants and reached base safely in 26 of his last 28.

Showing his athleticism, Corbin helped himself with a RBI fielder’s choice in the second inning, tying the game at 1. With the bases loaded and one out, he grounded into what appeared to be an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play as first base umpire Ed Hickox called Corbin out. The D-backs challenged, saying Corbin had beaten the throw. Replays proved them correct and the play was overturned after a 1:07 review, giving Corbin his first RBI of the season.

With two shutout innings, Randall Delgado has now held opponents scoreless in seven of his last nine relief appearances which equates to a 0.79 ERA (1 ER in 11.1 IP). He pitched a perfect sixth, recording a pair of strikeouts, and then worked around a one-out walk in the seventh. Delgado also has not allowed an earned run in 10 straight home games.

Both Aaron Hill and A.J. Pollock finished with two hits. Hill singled in both the second and seventh innings. The first base knock — a sharply struck ground ball off the glove of third baseman Matt Duffy — was the 10th of his career against Bumgarner, tied with Goldschmidt for the most among current D-backs. Hill went 2-for-4 and is now batting .345 (10-for-29) in 10 games versus the Giants this season. Meanwhile, Pollock, hitting cleanup for the eighth time this season, ended his day with singles in each of his final two at-bats, bringing his season average over .300 at .302. It was his seventh multi-hit effort in his last 13 games during which time he is batting .345 (19-for-55).

THE BAD

An inning after Goldschmidt took an extra base on him in left field, Maxwell got some revenge with a one-out solo home run. He clubbed a 1-0 92 mph fastball high into the air. The ball landed in the first row of seats just beyond the right field fence for the game’s first run. It was Maxwell’s first homer in 52 at-bats and seventh overall this season.

Aided by a wild pitch during his at-bat in the third inning, Pence put the Giants back in front, 2-1, with a two-out RBI double to left field. The play scored Joe Panik from second after he had advanced into scoring position on said wild pitch, a slider that ricocheted off of Welington Castillo’s shin guard to the backstop. Pence, by the way, is now batting .476 (10-for-21) with three doubles and seven RBI lifetime against Corbin.

Can’t say the D-backs didn’t have their chances Sunday, or throughout the entire series. The team managed only one hit — a Hill single in the second inning that didn’t score a run — in nine chances with runners in scoring position. For the three-game series, the D-backs hit .207 (6-for-29) with runners in scoring position. They left a total of 27 men on base.

STAT OF THE GAME

9.5: The number of games the D-backs sit behind first place, the furthest back they’ve been all season

HE SAID IT

“We had our chances,” manager Chip Hale said. “Just need a big hit, two-out hits. You saw them pretty much the whole series get them and we didn’t. That’s what it boils down to for me. We just need to get those two-out hits. They’re not easy to get, that’s why the guys who get them a lot get paid a lot of money.”

NOTED

Coming into the game leading all National League rookies in hitting (.305), Yasmany Tomas singled in the second for his first hit of the series.

The D-backs finished with nine hits, ending their club-record of recording 10 or more hits at nine straight home games.

The Giants’ bullpen allowed but one run in 13.2 IP during the series which saw manager Bruce Bochy make 16 pitching changes.

The Giants completed their first sweep at Chase Field since 2013 with their 89th win, the most by any opponent in the history of the ballpark.

UP NEXT

The season-long 10-game homestand continues with a visit from the Miami Marlins, a team the D-backs swept in a four-game series two months ago.

Right-handers Rubby De La Rosa and David Phelps are the probable starters for game one of the three-game set on Monday, July 20.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

De La Rosa (6-5) has lost each of his past two starts and is without a win since June 19.

He faced the Marlins in Miami back on May 18, earning a no decision despite going nine innings allowing two runs on six hits, including a home run, with five strikeouts and no walks.

De La Rosa is 4-1 in nine home starts.

Meanwhile, Phelps (4-5) is winless in four straight outings. He’s lost back-to-back starts, including a setback against Cincinnati in which gave up only one run on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts in six innings.

Phelps, in his first season with the Marlins, has made only one other start against the D-backs; and it was this season. On May 20, he suffered the loss by allowing four runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts in five innings.

The D-backs are 4-2 in their last six home games against the Marlins.