Henry continues to flourish in 4th MLB start

PHOENIX -- Despite a nice outing from rookie Tommy Henry, the D-backs couldn't push their winning streak to three games as they fell to the Cardinals, 5-1, on Friday night at Chase Field.

Here are two things to know about the game:

Henry is progressing nicely
In just his fourth big league start, Henry handled a tough Cardinals lineup well for 5 1/3 innings, allowing just one run -- a homer to former D-backs All-Star Paul Goldschmidt.

"It was good to see what Tommy was able to do against a very experienced right-handed-hitting lineup," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. "Really gave us a chance to stay in this ballgame. So, when we talk about our young players growing up and maturing and getting that experience, this was a good day for Tommy."

Henry's breaking stuff was not sharp in his debut against the Guardians, but after making adjustments to his grip on the slider and curveball on the suggestion of pitching coach Brent Strom, the pitches have gotten better in each of his subsequent outings.

In 17 2/3 innings over his past three starts, he has allowed five runs.

The lone mistake he made on Friday was the two-out solo homer by Goldschmidt in the first, but even that, Lovullo said, was not a bad pitch; just a case of a great hitter doing what he's done to so many other pitchers this year.

Henry's swing-and-miss percentage has climbed with each of his starts, going from 22 percent in his debut to 32 percent on Friday night.

"I think that's a testament to Carson [Kelly], too," Henry said of his catcher. "Tonight was a night where I kind of trusted the fingers he put down and [was] kind of robotic [in] that sense, and finally found the groove that way. And so, I think a lot of sequencing had to do with that and credit goes to him."

Miscues prove costly in the seventh
Lovullo is fond of saying that in order for his young team to be successful on a given night, they have to "win the margins" and do the little things right.

That didn't happen during the seventh inning, when the Cardinals scored four times to take control of the game.

It started with two outs and runners at first and second, when Dylan Carlson hit a blooper to left. Stone Garrett charged in and tried to make a sliding catch. He was unable to do so, and it fell in for a single to load the bases.

With Cardinals veteran catcher Yadier Molina the runner at second, Garrett -- who was playing in his third big league game -- still had plenty of time to throw to third for the forceout, but he rushed the throw and it went wide of the bag, allowing Molina to get in safely.

If the D-backs got an out on that play, the third out would have been when Tyler O'Neill followed with a popout to Kelly in foul territory, but instead, the Cardinals went on to score four times.

"I felt like there was a ball in left field that you know could have been played a little bit better, a little bit differently," Lovullo said. "And look, it's no fault of Stone. He's just getting the lay of the land. He gave a great effort, but you know that that play was a big play would have been a big out."

Later in the inning, the Cardinals scored a run on a passed ball when Kelly was crossed up by right-hander Edwin Uceta, despite using PitchCom.

"A fastball was thrown, and a curveball was called," Lovullo said. "So those little things, we don't do very often. And when it shows up, it costs you. We've got to tighten that up."