KANSAS CITY -- A couple of hours before the finale of a six-game road trip, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo contemplated the significance of Wednesday’s game against the Royals.

“It can either make our road trip look really good or average,” Lovullo said.

In the end, the D-backs managed to catapult themselves to the “really good” level thanks largely to the clutch hitting of Gabriel Moreno. It was Moreno’s two-run double in the ninth off Royals closer James McArthur that put Arizona ahead and propelled it to a series-clinching 8-6 victory. Ketel Marte added some insurance with a three-run homer -- his third of the series. The five-run rally in the ninth sends Arizona home with a 4-2 road trip to savor.

On a night when the D-backs hit four homers and the Royals didn’t hit any, the game still came down to Moreno’s big moment in the ninth when he split the gap in right-center field to erase a 4-3 Arizona deficit.

“I wanted to stay out of the double play, so I was thinking right center,” Moreno said through an interpreter. “We had a lot of opportunities to score runs today. Thankfully in the ninth, we were able to make it happen.”

After Moreno’s clutch double put the D-backs ahead, 5-4, it was Marte stepping into the spotlight with his three-run homer. As it turned out, the D-backs needed that in a big way because the Royals rallied for two runs before closer Paul Sewald finally ended it by getting Salvador Perez, who represented the tying run, to fly out to left.

“He’s a beast,” Lovullo said of Marte. “I hope the fans in Kansas City appreciated what they saw today between Marte and Bobby Witt Jr. Ketel wants to be in the middle of everything. That’s his personality.”

The D-backs started the ninth with Eugenio Suárez striking out, but Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled and Geraldo Perdomo drew a full-count walk. That set the stage for a memorable comeback finish.

“We never shut down,” Lovullo said.“Good teams can have good and bad moments, flush it and come out and do something like we did in the ninth.”

Despite homers by Suárez, Christian Walker and Joc Pederson, the D-backs trailed by a run after Kansas City scored three in the fourth. Pederson’s homer was the 200th of his career and represented a special moment for the 32 year old.

“It’s a pretty cool milestone,” Pederson said. “You realize you’ve been doing this awhile.”

Arizona starter Ryne Nelson grinded through six innings, allowing nine hits and four runs.

“My fastball command wasn’t where I wanted it, but the guys picked me up late in the game for sure,” Nelson said.

By taking two of three in Kansas City, the D-backs preserved a trend in which they have either won or tied every series since June 25-27.

“Moreno was the right guy in the right spot today and behind him was Ketel with another huge knock,” Lovullo said. “We talk about those things. What are we going to look like in the most critical moments? It was a character win and the guys dug as deep as they could.”