Hot bullpen in historic stretch

Magic or luck or superstition has nothing to do with how dominating the Diamondbacks bullpen has been lately.

Still, don’t remind those pitchers of their shutout streak.

“I wish you wouldn’t have said that,” right-hander David Hernandez said with a smile. Oops. But the impressive feat deserves the attention. Before Saturday’s game, the bullpen had kept the opponent scoreless for seven games, tying a franchise record. During that span of 15 innings, pitchers have allowed only seven hits and struck out eight.

The last time a Diamondbacks bullpen was that lights-out was May 11-17, 2011.

“You get going. You start rolling,” Hernandez said. “Everything happens how you want it to happen. Obviously there’s weeks when it didn’t go how you wanted it to go, and we’ve got in that rut. We’re pulling for each other, so we expect the next person to go out there and put up a zero. Right now it’s going our way.”

Roles have been clearly labeled, and that’s helped with preparation, Hernandez said. And yet the crew hasn’t missed a beat since closer J.J. Putz went down Tuesday with an elbow injury.

Responsibilities have shifted — Heath Bell is the interim closer, but Hernandez delivered the save Friday — and the results have been the same.

“I feel like we have the parts to not necessarily replace J.J. but to step in and fill the void,” Hernandez said. “We know he’s a key part in our bullpen, and we definitely need him.”

Really, this success shouldn’t come as a surprise since the bullpen was pegged to be a strength of the Diamondbacks. But the group had to work at managing that expectation.

“We knew we were supposed to be good, and I think we were adding pressure on ourselves to get people out,” Hernandez said. “Now we’ve realized we’re going out there and just having fun. I think we’re doing what we’re accustomed to do. We’re just going out there and getting people out.”

If starter Ian Kennedy could practice his mechanics as much as hitters perfect their swing in batting cages, he’d be one of the busier Diamondbacks. “I wish we could do that,” Kennedy said. But since the threat of injury makes that impossible, he has to be selective when it comes to putting in extra work. Three consecutive losses seemed as good a time as any so after watching video of games he’s pitched well in, Kennedy beefed up his routine before Friday’s appearance — a six-hit, two-run outing that lasted seven innings.

“I noticed there were some things I was doing that was making me miss my spots,” he said. “So I did some drills that I did in spring training, like I do every year. Times throughout the year you need to do it. It’s a fine line of you put work in, but you can’t do too much because you can’t put wear and tear on our arm.”

The changes were noticeable — so much so that manager Kirk Gibson called his last two innings the best he’s pitched all season.

“He had a lot more life on his ball,” Gibson said. “His velocity went up. I know what he was trying to do. I could see he was executing it. A lot more life on it.”

Think pink

Cautious Kennedy

Expect to see pink today around Chase Field to recognize Mother’s Day and bring breast cancer awareness — even on the players’ cleats. But not everyone’s shoemaker has offered a pink option.

“I don’t have Under Armour,” Kennedy said. “I wish New Balance had pink cleats. I’d wear them, for sure.”