PHOENIX -- The D-backs and Rangers will square off at Globe Life Field Tuesday, the first of a two-game series between last year's World Series teams, who are both looking to try to get their seasons headed in the right direction.

While the Rangers enter the series fresh off a win over the Twins, they lost their six games before that and sit at 25-29. The D-backs thought they had gotten a boost from taking two out of three from the Dodgers in Los Angeles at the beginning of the week, only to come home and drop two of three to the NL East last-place Marlins (19-35).

With Sunday's 3-1 loss to Miami at Chase Field, the D-backs fell to 25-28. While they are still firmly in contention for a postseason spot, the up-and-down nature of the season so far has been frustrating for all involved.

Sunday's game was a microcosm of Arizona's season. The D-backs got decent pitching out of starter Blake Walston, who was called up earlier in the day, but their bats could not get going and a crucial error in the seventh allowed the Marlins to score three unearned runs.

"We had a little momentum, and I felt very good about coming back home," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said about the Dodgers series. "And it just goes to show you can't take anybody lightly and I don't think we were. We had to come in here and continue to play our game. We just came out and had a couple of duds. We're better than that."

The play that changed the game came in the seventh. The Marlins had runners on first and second with reliever Kevin Ginkel facing Bryan De La Cruz, who hit a grounder to short. Kevin Newman backhanded the ball and threw wide of second baseman Blaze Alexander.

That allowed a run to score and put runners at first and third as Miami would score two more unearned runs on Jake Burger's single to left.

"We kind of blinked first and made an error," Lovullo said. "Tough play, but when the margins are that small and when you're grinding the way we are offensively, every little thing matters, so it ends up leading to a bunch of unearned runs. Acknowledging that it was a tough play, we don't normally make mistakes in those types of scenarios."

It was a tough break for Newman, who has been outstanding defensively and has delivered some big hits at the plate while filling in for the injured Geraldo Perdomo. Newman likely saved a run with a diving stop of Dane Myers' grounder up the middle in the fifth.

"Ball in the hole, tried to make the play at second base. Obviously [the throw was] just a little too far for Blaze over there and weren't able to get the out and the runner from third scored," Newman said. "I think it was just a bad throw. Tough angle, but a play that I really want to make."

The D-backs scored three early runs off Marlins starter Sixto Sánchez on Saturday night, but Braxton Garrett tossed a shutout against them Friday and Ryan Weathers threw six shutout frames Sunday.

"It was a lot of velo today, I saw that, and he had a really good changeup," Lovullo said of Weathers. "He was walking the ball around the zone. When he was in San Diego, we saw him do that. You just can't miss your pitch and I thought there were times we had counts in our favor but we didn't get the swing off."

That's been a theme with the D-backs this season, one they hope will change when they see the Rangers on Tuesday following an off-day on Monday.

"I think that we're probably a little bit bummed that we didn't win the series today," Newman said. "But it's something that we need to flush and just get ready for the next series. You know, you can't think too long about these things. We play so many games that the longer you think about it, the more you kind of let it fester."