PHOENIX -- Saturday night started off on a promising note for the D-backs.

There was a big crowd at Chase Field and Arizona starter Slade Cecconi looked sharp once again, handling the Orioles with relative ease for the first three innings, while the D-backs manufactured a couple of early runs along with a Gabriel Moreno homer in the ninth.

But things unraveled in a hurry in the fourth, as the Orioles erupted for six runs en route to a 7-3 win.

• Games remaining: vs. BAL (1), vs. COL (3), at CHC (4), at NYM (4), vs. CHC (3), vs. SF (2), at NYY (3), at CWS (3), vs. HOU (3)

• Standings update: The D-backs are tied with the Giants and Reds for the final NL Wild Card spot, with the Marlins one game behind. Cincinnati and Miami hold the tiebreaker advantage over Arizona as does San Francisco, but the D-backs can change that if they win the final two games between the two teams on Sept. 19-20.

The Orioles sent 10 men to the plate in the fourth, and it was a three-run homer by Cedric Mullins that delivered the big blow while Adam Frazier, James McCann and Adley Rutschman also tallied RBI hits.

Here’s what you need to know about the game:

Cecconi wasn’t sharp even early
The results were there for Cecconi in the first three innings, but the Orioles had five exit velocities of 90 mph or better over that stretch.

So the danger signs were there.

“Well, I thought we squared a few balls up,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “[Austin Hays] flew out in that tough corner. We hit some balls hard, we just didn’t have anything to show for it over the first couple of innings. But then, I thought we did a great job of getting on his fastball and taking really good at-bats.”

D-backs manager Torey Lovullo did not exactly give a ringing endorsement of Cecconi’s first three innings.

“Slade was, I thought, adequate early on,” Lovullo said.

Missing with the fastball
In the fourth, those hard-hit balls started to find gaps and in Mullins’ case, bleachers.

Lovullo said it was because Cecconi was struggling to locate his offspeed pitches so he became too reliant on the fastball and didn’t locate it well enough.

“There were some middle-away, middle-up, middle-middle type fastballs that were hit,” Lovullo said. “And you gotta be better than that in this league. You got to be able to locate that on an edge or the top bar. So there were some middle mistakes and there were a lot of fastballs.”

Cecconi wanted to take some time to review video before drawing any hard and fast conclusions, but he was kicking himself for trying to “place the ball” instead of just letting them go.

“Everybody wants to go out there and compete and give their team a chance to win, but I didn't do that today,” Cecconi said. “I don't think that those fastballs [in the fourth] were necessarily thrown with the same intent when I was behind in the count as when I was ahead in the count, which is something that I can't let happen. I have to throw every pitch with conviction no matter what the count is, and I don't think I did that very well.”

Walker likely dodged serious injury
First baseman Christian Walker was forced to leave the game after being hit by a pitch in the third inning.

The ball caught Walker on his right elbow and aggravated a nerve that runs down the arm, leaving him with numbness and pain in his right hand.

X-rays taken at the ballpark were negative, and he was seen by team hand specialist Don Sheridan.

Whether Walker is in the lineup for Sunday’s day game is uncertain. It’s a quick turnaround and Lovullo has been looking to give Walker a day off. 

“Just a ton of nerve pain,” Walker said. “But all things considered, should be fine.”