Rocky finale, but series win a silver lining

For six-plus innings in Thursday afternoon’s series finale against the Rockies at Chase Field, the D-backs matched the ingredients of Wednesday’s victory with a sweep now on the line: strong starting pitching and quality at-bats.

Unfortunately for Arizona, things quickly fell apart in the later innings, leading to a 9-3 loss to the Rockies.

• Box score

In his third start of the season, Jake Faria pitched five innings of two-run ball, striking out four Rockies hitters. Meanwhile, Arizona’s hitters, who have found their stride over the last three games, scratched out three runs with smart baserunning and clutch hits when the team needed them most, including a go-ahead two-run homer from Josh VanMeter following a pinch-hit one-out double from Andrew Young in the fifth.

The lead didn’t last long, as Arizona allowed six runs over the next two innings, including a long seventh inning in which the Rockies tallied four runs on five hits and a hit-by-pitch before the D-backs could record an out.

In the bottom of the seventh, the D-backs loaded the bases with nobody out against Jhoulys Chacín before going down in order, ending any potential threat of a comeback.

While Arizona walks away with its first series win since May 2 and back-to-back wins for the first time since May 10-11, it’ll need to hold on a bit longer before securing its first sweep since April 22-23.

The team now heads to Los Angeles for its final three-game series before the All-Star break with a renewed focus to finish the first half of the season strong.

“We're going to close out the first half here with three games in L.A., and I know our guys are going to be ready,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “I think they're gonna be energized after winning a series, and feeling good about themselves and getting the job done on a very, very high level and executing fundamentally, the way we know how.”

Here’s what went right in the series, and what the D-backs will try to improve upon moving forward.

1. Strong starting pitching
Despite having three starters (Madison Bumgarner, Zac Gallen and Taylor Widener) on the 10-day IL, the D-backs pieced together strong pitching performances from the options that they had available.

Merrill Kelly fired 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball in Tuesday's series opener, Humberto Castellanos tossed four scoreless innings in his first career MLB start on Wednesday and Faria gave the D-backs enough length in his third start of the year as he continues to stretch out.

“He gave us five quality innings,” Lovullo said. “He gave up only a couple runs and when he left the game we were ahead, and that's what we ask our pitchers to do.”

With much of the current staff frequently working with high pitch counts, the team will also look to see effective outings like Faria’s in which he threw 86 pitches (55 strikes) to get through five innings.

“The effectiveness that he had, as he was approaching that pitch count, he blocked it all out and executed,” Lovullo added.

The D-backs rank 28th in MLB in starter ERA with a 5.43 mark. As the team looks to build off this series in the absence of its regular starters, solid outings like the ones displayed over this three-game set will allow the offense to work without playing from behind.

2. Good at-bats
The D-backs’ offense managed 13 runs across the three games, which was nearly enough for the three-game sweep. Arizona continues to be in the middle of the pack of MLB teams in runs scored, with 371 after Thursday’s game.

When the team isn’t playing behind, its batters can take a more aggressive approach in the box.

For example, Eduardo Escobar’s three-run home run in Wednesday’s win came on a 2-2 count with one out with runners in scoring position, as a result of a single and a walk. VanMeter’s go-ahead home run on Thursday came on a 2-0 count.

“When we play our brand of baseball [and] do it our way, we're a really good baseball team,” Lovullo said. “I can accept certain failures. I can accept losing a baseball game by going down our way.”

3. Close out strong
The D-backs saw the game slip away in the seventh on Thursday, and nearly saw the same result on Wednesday. Provided that the team continues to scratch runs across and its starters continue to do their jobs, Arizona will need its bullpen to handle pitching in long relief and hold close games in place.

The team’s 5.15 reliever ERA ranks 28th in MLB. The D-backs’ bullpen has also allowed the most runs (226) in the league.

Long-relief option Riley Smith was tagged for four earned runs on five hits across his two innings in Thursday's loss.

“We haven't seen that from Riley that often this year,” Lovullo said. “I think there were a lot of mistakes -- misguided mistakes -- that were well out of the zone. He had to throw balls, more center-cut balls, and he got banged around a little bit.”

Arizona is not without quality relievers, but it will need much of its ‘pen to step up in order to better bridge the gap to closer Joakim Soria.