Godley struggles as D-backs get swept

PHOENIX -- The D-backs didn't mince words after Sunday's 9-6 loss when describing how they were swept by the Giants over the weekend.
"They kicked our butts, man," D-backs third baseman Jake Lamb said. "They came in here and beat us straight up. It sucks getting swept, especially how good we've been playing, but you've just got to flush it."
In the first two games, the D-backs' offense struggled, scoring a total of one run and wasting a nice pitching performance by Patrick Corbin in the opener.
Sunday, the offense came alive, collecting 13 hits, but the pitching could not find a way to cool the San Francisco bats.
"Just an unfortunate series," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. "We couldn't put everything together in one game. The first couple of nights we offensively couldn't get that big hit, and today we get some big hits and get some runners on base and cash them in and unfortunately the pitching didn't execute the way they had been the first couple of nights."

Arizona starter Zack Godley (9-6) came into the game riding a four-start win streak, but struggled to locate his fastball.
In four-plus innings, he allowed seven runs on nine hits while walking five (one intentional) and striking out five.
"Couldn't locate certain pitches and they took advantage of that," he said. "It doesn't help that they were swinging the bat really well right now, one through nine. When you're not having your best stuff, that's not a good team to face at this time."
Godley's last loss also came against the Giants when he allowed seven runs in 3 1/3 innings on June 4.
"Overall today, for me, it just didn't feel right," Godley said. "Something for me just wasn't clicking. I tried to battle my way through it as best I could and those guys just took advantage."

With the loss, the D-backs' lead in the National League West fell to 2 1/2 games over the Dodgers and Giants.
After going 8-2 on a grueling road trip to Anaheim, Pittsburgh and Miami, the D-backs had hoped to bring that momentum into their 10-game homestand.
Instead, they were swept by the Giants and now will need to regroup for a three-game set against the Cardinals beginning Monday night and then a four-game series with the Padres.
"Baseball is a long season," Lamb said. "You're going to go through your ups and downs and you've just got to focus on playing good baseball and at the end of the season the best team is going to be at the top and we go from there."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Sticking with Zack: The D-backs trailed, 4-2, heading into the bottom of the fourth when Lovullo elected to let Godley hit for himself and stay in the game. Arizona did manage to get a run in the fourth, but Godley was unable to retire a batter in the fifth as the Giants scored four times -- three of which were charged to Godley -- to put the game away.
"We had talked about that," Lovullo said of not pinch-hitting for Godley. "But I felt like he was throwing the ball OK. I felt like Zack always has a certain point during the game where he catches a big tailwind and he can knock off two or three innings quickly."
Making them sweat: The D-backs didn't go quietly in the ninth against right-hander Mark Melancon. After retiring the first two hitters of the inning, Melancon allowed three straight singles to bring the tying run to the plate in Lamb. Giants manager Bruce Bochy brought in left-hander Will Smith, who struck out Lamb to end the game.

"We built an inning," Lovullo said. "We didn't shut down. That's one of the characteristics of this team. We built the inning, we had some good quality at-bats, got into some counts and that's all you can ask for. When you're down by four runs going into the ninth inning, if you bring the tying run up to home plate, you've done a pretty good job of not shutting down."

HE SAID IT
"I think the simple answer is he lacked fastball command today." -- Lovullo, on Godley's struggles
UP NEXT
The D-backs open a three-game series against the Cardinals on Monday night at Chase Field. It is the first time the two teams have faced each other since St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina took offense to comments Lovullo made about him to home-plate umpire Tim Timmons on April 8 at Busch Stadium. Molina charged at Lovullo and both benches emptied. Lovullo and Molina each received one-game suspensions. Left-hander Robbie Ray will start for the D-backs, opposite right-hander Carlos Martínez. It is Ray's second appearance after being out almost two months with a strained right oblique.