Sedona Red Recap: Giant hitters take over as Diamondbacks fall five games below .500

If the Arizona Diamondbacks plan on making a run at a playoff spot, this 10-game homestand coming out of the All-Star break is an extremely pivotal one.

Particularly this three-game series with the defending World Champs.

Entering play on Saturday, the D-backs sat five games out of a wild card spot in the NL and four games behind the San Francisco Giants. Unfortunately, both of those numbers grew larger.

Buster Posey drove in four and Matt Duffy notched three more hits as the Giants upended Arizona 8-4 in front of 37,609 fans on Star Wars Night at Chase Field. Chip Hale’s squad took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning, but saw it evaporate in a hurry as San Francisco touched up Chase Anderson to the tune of seven runs in just 3.2 innings.

For Anderson, it was his worst outing of the year.
The D-backs did manage to stage a rally, scoring a run in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to cut the deficit to 7-4, but that was as close as they could get.

THE GOOD

-David Peralta led off the bottom half of the second inning with a triple. Chris Owings promptly singled him home for Arizona’s first run of the game.

-Peralta found some more leadoff magic in the sixth, when he delivered his ninth homerun of the year.

-Cliff Pennington later chipped in his first longball of the season.

-Catcher Oscar Hernandez recorded his first official Major League at-bat in the third, and his first hit (a double) in the fifth.

-The Diamondbacks have recorded double-digit hits in nine consecutive home games. That’s a club record, as well as the longest streak in the Majors this season.

THE BAD

-After a pretty consistent — if not strong — first two and a half months of the season, Anderson has been scuffling of late. Over his last five starts, he’s now 1-3 with a 9.12 ERA.

-Giants pitcher Jake Peavy did some damage with the bat, getting things started with a single to begin the third. When the dust had settled, San Francisco had plated four runs (including Peavy) to take a 4-1 lead.

-After winning six of their previous seven meetings with the Giants, Arizona has now dropped two straight.

-Overall, the D-backs have lost five in a row, after finally reaching the .500 mark back on July 8.

STAT OF THE GAME

7: The number of triples David Peralta has hit this season. That leads the Diamondbacks, and ranks second only to Tampa Bay’s Kevin Kiermaier in all of baseball this season.

HE SAID IT

“That was awesome. That’s the best feeling I’ve ever felt in my life. It was really good.” – Oscar Hernandez, describing his first Major League hit.

NOTED

-A.J. Pollock went 1-for-4 as his Star Wars bobblehead was being handed out to the fans in attendance. That means Arizona position players are now hitting .381 (37-for-97) with six home runs and 19 RBI on their bobblehead days since 2001.

-Pollock has reached base via hit or walk in 14 straight contests.

-Pennington’s home run was his second career round-tripper of the pinch-hit variety. His other came on August 24, 2014.

-Welington Castillo saw his eight-game hitting streak end when he struck out while pinch-hitting for Oscar Hernandez in the ninth.

-The Diamondbacks’ bullpen is sporting a 1.54 ERA (eight earned runs in 46.2 innings) over the last 12 games.

UP NEXT

The two teams will wrap up this three-game series at Chase Field on Sunday. Patrick Corbin will take the mound for Arizona, while San Francisco counters with Madison Bumgarner. First pitch is slated for 1:10, with pregame coverage beginning at 12:30 on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Corbin (1-1) will be making just his third start since September 27, 2013. In his first two appearances this year, he has shown flashes of being the pitcher he was before he underwent Tommy John surgery. The D-backs could certainly use him in the second half of the season, but they also realize it’s a process as he rounds back into form after that lengthy absence. He’s gone exactly five innings in each of his two outings this season.

Bumgarner (9-5), of course, is the reigning World Series MVP and one of the premier pitchers in the game today. For all that he’s already accomplished in his career, it’s easy to forget that he’s just 25 years old. He won his last outing before the All-Star break, scattering two runs over 5.2 innings in a 15-2 victory over the hapless Phillies.

In three starts against Arizona this season, the big lefty is 1-1 with 14 strikeouts, a 2.45 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. Most recently, he suffered a 1-0 loss at home despite striking out eight D-backs and allowing just one run over eight frames back on June 12.