It was a back-and-forth game that saw some good things happen for the D-backs. The offense scored some runs -- including three homers -- and there was a highlight-reel play by shortstop Josh Rojas. But in the end, it finished up where it has all too often lately: with the D-backs on the losing end.

The Dodgers scored four runs in the 10th, while Arizona’s rally in the bottom half of the inning fell just short in a 10-9 D-backs loss on Tuesday at Chase Field.

• Box score

The defeat was the 17th in the last 19 games for the D-backs.

“It’s hard to do,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said of a losing stretch like the one his team is in.

A lot of things have to go wrong for a team to have a sustained stretch like that.

“You know, we take care of one thing and then someone else seems to take over,” Lovullo said. “But we got one thing that we can do. That's go out there and continue to do everything we possibly can to play our best game tomorrow. And nobody's going to feel sorry for us. We’ve got to make something happen here.”

But there is a fine line between trying to make something happen and forcing something that isn’t there.

That’s what Lovullo thought happened in the ninth inning with Tim Locastro.

Locastro was on first with two outs and Ketel Marte at the plate. The speedster stole second -- making him 25-for-25 in his Major League career -- and moved to third when catcher Austin Barnes’ throw skipped by Corey Seager.

As Locastro rounded third base, he saw center fielder Cody Bellinger lob the ball back to the infield, where it fell to the ground. Thinking he could use his tremendous speed to score, Locastro kept running.

Max Muncy picked up the ball and easily threw him out at the plate for the final out of the inning.

“You know, it’s that force mentality that I feel like we're walking around with every single day, on every single pitch, with every single at-bat,” Lovullo said. “It defined where I think we’re at right now. [Locastro is] an extremely fast runner, he's extremely gifted at making great decisions on the bases. That one was a forced play. We’ve got to be mindful of things like that and try not to try to do too much or try too hard.”

The D-backs gave the Dodgers all kinds of opportunities throughout the night. Arizona pitchers walked 12 and hit a batter.

For much of the game, though, the pitchers were able to avoid having it bite them, as just two of the walks scored.

“If you're a big league pitcher, you're going to be able to throw strikes and command the baseball and put it on the plate,” Lovullo said. “You know that is a given. If it is mechanical, that's something that we're going to address. If it's something that's emotional or mental, we're going to address that as well. We got to, we got to make sure that we don't add fuel to the fire by not putting the ball on the plate. That’s rule No. 1 -- you’ve got to throw strikes.”