'Finish strong': D-backs again outslug Angels

It appears all the D-backs' offense needed to get going was a trip to Orange County.

Home runs by Kole Calhoun and David Peralta helped the D-backs score nine runs for the second straight night as they beat the Angels, 9-6, on Wednesday night at Angel Stadium.

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Calhoun homered twice and Peralta once Tuesday night when the D-backs won, 9-8. In two games against his former team, Calhoun has three homers and has driven in seven runs.

This was the kind of offense the D-backs thought they had when the season began, a dangerous one-through-nine attack.

“I still think they’re going to maintain that type of excitement and ability to pile up runs for the next 10 games,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “We all wish as teachers and coaches that we could find a way to eliminate the lulls. It’s just a part of the game that happens. Sometimes things compound themselves and the game gets harder than it actually is and you feel like you’re really fighting an uphill battle. I know these guys have been grinding, playing hard and practicing hard for this type of a result. That’s what’s most gratifying, when I see the dugout full of excitement and feeling good about themselves. They deserve it. I want that to continue for as long as we can possibly do it.”

There are only 10 games left in the season for the D-backs, as a 2-18 stretch -- fueled in large part by an offensive slump -- effectively ended their postseason hopes.

It also had general manager Mike Hazen talking about the need for the offense to get better in 2021, whether by changing the mix of players or the approach.

“Obviously, we had a bad stretch where we didn’t score a lot of runs and lost a lot of games,” shortstop Nick Ahmed said. “I don’t know if there’s regret or what, but in a long season of 162, you’re going to go through a stretch like that inevitably, no matter how good your offense is. I think guys started to try too hard or put pressure on themselves and it probably got extended longer than it should have. It’s unfortunate we went through it, but we did.”

Prior to the back-to-back nine-run tallies, the D-backs had scored nine runs just once in the previous 24 games, which included their 2-18 stretch.

They hit seven home runs in the first two games of the series with the Angels after hitting just one in their previous five games.

“That’s what we should have been doing,” Peralta said of the last two games. “That’s the type of offense that we are. We’re just going to finish strong. We’re going to learn from this season and just going to move forward. It’s been fun the last two days, the way we’ve been doing our thing and doing our business.”