D-Backs make statement with 2 resounding wins
DENVER - That the Diamondbacks accomplished something this week at Coors Field is hard to deny. They twice dismantled a streaking Colorado Rockies team – the most recent being a 10-3 victory on Thursday afternoon -- and came within five outs of a three-game sweep. They left town with a series victory at the end of a road trip that will go down as one of the best in franchise history.
Even the eternally levelheaded Paul Goldschmidt seemed to acknowledge, in his own roundabout way, the significance of how well they played.
But as to whether they made a “statement” this week, as manager Torey Lovullo suggested, that might depend on whether anyone is listening, and when it comes to that, the Diamondbacks do not seem to care.
Whether those inside or outside of the baseball world recognize that the Diamondbacks went 7-1 on this road trip; that they moved percentage points ahead of the Rockies and trail the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers by a game in the National League West; that they are playing, by nearly any measure, really, really well – the perception of it all does not seem to matter to them.
“I really don’t care,” third baseman Jake Lamb said. “I just care about what we’ve got going on in here. But I think people are noticing. But I’m not offended if they aren’t because we know we’re playing good baseball. We know how good we are. And that’s all that really matters.”
Said catcher Chris Iannetta: “It doesn’t matter to us, in all honesty. I think if you ask the guys around the locker room, I don’t think it matters. We know what we’re capable of doing. We know what type of team we are.”
After weeks of beating up on clubs that were either clearly bad or only sort of good, the Diamondbacks faced a Rockies club that was undeniably strong. They beat them, too. By going 7-1 through Detroit, Philadelphia and Denver, the Diamondbacks amassed an .875 winning percentage that’s better than any three-city trip in franchise history
“We know we’re right there with (the Rockies) and the Dodgers,” Goldschmidt said. “Hopefully, it comes down to the last week of the season. So you know, it means a little bit more. I think the tendency is to try to do too much, and we did a good job of just – it didn’t feel any different than any other game.”
The Diamondbacks had a one-run lead in the eighth inning on Friday before the Rockies rallied for two runs off Zack Greinke. But the Diamondbacks proceeded to score 26 times in the next two games. They had a 10-run inning on Wednesday and two four-run innings on Thursday. They also had four other two-run innings during the series.
Some of that is Coors Field, but if their offense is dinged for park effect, then the pitching staff should be credited. In three games here, Diamondbacks pitchers allowed just 11 earned runs.
“We came in here and did what we needed to do, more for ourselves than anybody else,” said right-hander Zack Godley, who worked into the eighth inning for the first time this season. “It showed that we’re playing good ball. We’re swinging the bats well and we’re throwing the ball well, so we’ll just keep trying to carry that over into the next day.”
As usual, Goldschmidt has been a big part of the offense’s success. He clobbered a three-run homer on Thursday – it came an inning after Chris Owings also hit a three-run shot – for his 18th home run of the season, and for as great as he’s been during his seven seasons in the majors, Goldschmidt might be putting together his best year yet.
There’s still a little more than a halfseason to go, but Goldschmidt’s .335 average, .448 on-base and .620 slugging would all be career highs, easily eclipsing his previous bests.
The Diamondbacks will continue to lean on him. After four more games against the basement-dwelling Philadelphia Phillies, they will host the St. Louis Cardinals and the Rockies again before traveling to Los Angeles for a series at Dodger Stadium.
It’s a stretch of schedule that’s a little meatier than what they’ve encountered lately, and on Thursday they finished the first segment of it with a pair of resounding victories.
“It was a first-place team, and we came in here and played very good baseball,” Lovullo said. “We came out and scored a lot of runs against a very quality team. I think we did a good job and did exactly what we’re supposed to do in this series. We came up to Coors Field and won a series. I don’t think they lose a lot of series. I think it’s the fourth one all year long. I’m proud of these guys.”