D-backs turn page on difficult May

PHOENIX -- The D-backs will no doubt be happy to flip the calendar to June on Tuesday morning, because the month of May has been one they would like to just forget.

The D-backs finished the season's second month with a 6-2 loss to the Mets and Jacob deGrom on Monday night at Chase Field.

• Box score

The D-backs, who snapped a 13-game losing streak on Sunday, have now dropped 23 of their last 27 games. And they finished May with a 5-24 mark, the most losses in any single calendar month in franchise history.

"We're not doing things the Diamondback way," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. "And before you guys start asking questions about it, we've got to tidy things up around here. And I know I've been saying that now for probably two weeks. So my challenge to these guys is to find a way to keep fighting, which they do, but to take care of those little things. Because, for me and this organization, they add up to big things. So as frustrating as this game is, we've got to find a way to turn the page and get ready for tomorrow."

On the bright side for the D-backs, they won't have to face deGrom on Tuesday night.

The Mets’ ace was as advertised, throwing 100 mph from the game's first pitch, and the D-backs were able to manage just two hits in six scoreless innings against him while striking out eight times.

"Obviously, you saw what our big league hitters did against him tonight, and you've seen what the rest of the league did against him," said Merrill Kelly, who started opposite deGrom. "You know, what we're watching is definitely something special. In my mind, he's in a league of his own. The fact that he has the stuff that he has and can command it the way that he does, I think is probably what sets him apart the most. You know, there's a lot of guys in this league that throw 90 to 100 [mph] but he pitches with it, and it's relentless, and it's every single pitch."

Kelly did his best to keep the D-backs in the game, allowing just three runs through the first six innings before Pete Alonso's two-run homer off him in the seventh gave New York a cushion.

"He did enough to keep us in a ballgame," Lovullo said. "It's always a little bit risky to run [starting pitchers] out there that fourth time through the lineup, but I felt like he was commanding the baseball and he was going to be able to give us an opportunity to match up later, a little bit deeper down in the lineup. But unfortunately he gave up a two-run home run that really made his linescore look a lot worse than it actually was."

The D-backs have a .345 winning percentage, their lowest mark at the beginning of June since the inaugural 1998 team had a .304 winning percentage at this point in the calendar.

Their struggles in May were not unique. In 2018, they went just 8-19 in May. And in May 2019, they were 11-17.

Lovullo can’t put his finger on why the month gives this franchise trouble.

"I don't know," Lovullo said. "I don't know that answer. It's about sustainability and just being consistent throughout the entire season. Our goal is to win as many games as possible, and we come out of the gates, come out of Spring Training, very prepared, very ready. Maybe we let our guard down a little bit. That can't happen."