CHICAGO -- After dropping the first four games of their road trip to the Dodgers, the D-backs came within six outs of completing a four-game sweep of the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Sunday afternoon.

Instead, back-to-back eighth-inning homers by Patrick Wisdom and Frank Schwindel off Ian Kennedy helped Chicago win the final game of the series, 5-4.

"These outings suck," Kennedy said. "The team fought back so much, and you're responsible. These are the hard ones. You don't want to be the guy on the mound that ruins it."

It was a disappointed clubhouse, but while finishing the trip with a 3-5 mark was not as good as a 4-4 one would have been, it won't be a completely somber flight back to Phoenix, where the D-backs will open a nine-game homestand Monday night against the Royals.

"Overall, these past four games, I was proud of the way we came back after what we did in L.A.," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. "We were in a position to sweep the [Cubs] on the road. We just couldn't get it done. So we'll tighten up the things we need to. There's some things we've got to address to put ourselves in a better position to help us win the game, but I was very pleased with what we did, even though we lost the game."

Here are a couple of takeaways from Sunday's game:

It's still a work in progress for Merrill Kelly
The D-backs right-hander had a terrific start to the season before allowing eight earned runs in two innings against the Dodgers last Tuesday.

After that outing, Kelly worked with pitching coach Brent Strom to clean up some things in his delivery that may have given the Dodgers an idea of what pitches were coming. On Sunday, he allowed three runs in the second, but he didn't give up any more during his five-inning outing.

Kelly walked three, giving him seven over his past seven innings, something that is both uncharacteristic for him and needs to be avoided.

"I think a lot of the pitches right now are just in between," Kelly said. "Sometimes I'm yanking them, and then the other times, they're missing up. So there's something that I'm doing that is a little bit off. But you know, that's kind of baseball. Throughout the season, you can't ride the wave whether it's down or up. So we'll continue to take a look at things and feel some things and just try to get back to where I feel like I should be."

They cannot afford to make mistakes
The D-backs' margin for error appears to be pretty slim, and when they commit a fundamental mistake or have a miscue, it can often prove to be the difference for them.

Lovullo pointed to a couple of things Sunday that cost his team.

The first was a Wisdom popup in the second that fell on the infield grass in front of home plate and to the left of the pitcher's mound. Third baseman Drew Ellis appeared to call for the ball, but it was another windy day at Wrigley and the ball ended up falling in front of him. Later in the inning, the D-backs paid a price for that when P.J. Higgins tripled home three runs.

The other thing Lovullo mentioned was the six walks issued by D-backs hurlers and the location of some other pitches.

"Not walking batters," Lovullo said. "I think there's other counts where we could have controlled them better on the mound. I felt like we could have caught a popup today and that would have made a big difference."