D-backs Finish 1-5 Homestand With 7-3 Loss To Giants

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Joe Saunders Knocked Around, Diamondbacks Fall 7-3 To Giants

The Arizona Diamondbacks were hoping to get back on track after being swept in three games at home by the St. Louis Cardinals. They beat the San Francisco Giants on Friday, lost on Saturday and hoped that behind Joe Saunders they could start the road trip on a positive note. Saunders looked great for the first two innings, but then could not close out innings, and the offense only could muster five hits as they lost the final game of the homestand 7-3.

Saunders was perfect for two innings, but the gave up 10 hits in the next three innings, with two runs each crossing the plate in each inning. In both the third and fourth innings, the runs came with two outs.

Both Gregor Blanco and Melky Cabrera singled in runs in the third, while Blanco struck again in the fourth, driving a pair of runs with a two-out single.

Brett Pill hit a two-run homer in the fifth and then in the seventh, off Josh Collmenter, Hector Sanchez drove in Cabrera to cap off the Giants' runs.

Barry Zito, who started for San Fran, went six innings and allowed the three Diamondbacks runs, but only allowed five hits. The third through sixth batters in the lineup (Justin Upton, Paul Goldschmidt, Miguel Montero and Cody Ransom) went hitless.

Jason Kubel, who had three hits on the afternoon, drove in Ryan Roberts in the second inning and also doubled in A.J. Pollock, who had doubled in Roberts, in the fourth.

Arizona finishes the homestand 1-5 and now heads on the road for seven games.

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Diamondbacks Giants Streak Ends, Lose 5-2

The Arizona Diamondbacks streak of nine-straight wins over the San Francisco Giants came to an end Saturday night thanks in large part to the arm (and bat) of Matt Cain. The D-backs offensive struggles continued while Trevor Cahill was decent on a night when excellence was required.

The D-backs finished with 11 strikeouts, which is consistent with their ranking as one of the highest-strikeout total teams in the league. Of course, the Baltimore Orioles are right up there too and they have an AL East leading 22-12 record.

Overall, the team needs to play better.

"I think it's the way we played. We had a good win (Friday) night and we did not follow the effort up tonight. All around it was not a good game for us tonight," Kirk Gibson said.

The Giants took advantage of Cahill's early command issues to put one run on the board in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Gregor Blanco walked, advanced to second on a fielder's choice, and scored on a double by Angel Pagan. Pagan went 3-3 for the day with two walks (one intentional).

Cahill settled in after the first and had two quick innings before allowing a hit in the fourth, a run in the fifth and then the wheels came off in the sixth. He gave up a hit to Pagan, but a double play ball cleaned that up. Then the seventh and eighth hitters were plunked with two outs and opposing pitcher Matt Cain doubled down the first base line to score them both.

Trevor said that he had two strikes on both the batters he hit and was just trying to hard to put them away, "I guess I tried to throw an extra nasty pitch or whatever and it got away from me."

He hit Bruiss with a curveball and Crawford with a change-up.

Cahill was replaced by Craig Breslow having given up four earned runs off six hits. He walked two and hit two with three of those free runners scoring.

The D-backs offense had its own struggles with Cain. He gave up just three hits and two walks to the Saturday Snakes with the only run allowed in the third inning. Aaron Hill led-off with a triple and Willie Bloomquist sent him home with a sac fly to right field.

the D-backs added another run in the seventh thanks to a pair of Giants errors and the Giants answered by with a run in the ninth after Brandon Belt tripled and scored on a Melky Cabrera double. Cabrera also had three hits with two doubles and two RBI for the game.

Lefties Joe Saunders and Barry Zito will duke it out from opposing mounds on Sunday to close out the series.

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John McDonald Will Host Mother's Day Event At Chase Field

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Former Minor League Teammates Key In D-backs Victory Vs. Giants

It had to feel like old times for a few young players on Friday night. Youngsters Paul Goldschmidt, A.J. Pollock and Patrick Corbin were all teammate in the minor leagues just a season ago. They played for the D-backs AA farm team, the Mobile Bay Bears.

On Friday, Corbin pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, notching the victory. Goldschmidt had three hits, including a two-run homer -- his first homer since his first at-bat of the season. Pollock had two hits, including his first major league home run.

Their play was a flashback and also possibly a glimpse into the future. In any case, they felt good to be at the major league level and contributing.

Corbin talked about having his former teammates behind him.

We were in Mobile. We had a great team there. Those guys are awesome -- great teammates and definitely good players. Having them out there behind me is definitely something good, and that they're up here too and doing well today.

Goldschmidt hit .306 with 30 home runs and 94 RBI before being called up to the D-backs. Pollock hit .307 with 36 steals and 41 doubles. Corbin won nine games.

Together, they were the Southern League champs.

The organization is hoping that the success they had together in the minors and their play on Friday can be a predictor of the type of success they may have individually and as a team in the years to come. For now, it would be even nicer to have them be part of some success in the present for the 2012 season.

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Rookie A.J. Pollock Gets 1st Major League HR, Silent Treatment

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Patrick Corbin, Paul Goldschmidt Lead D-backs Over Giants 5-1

The Arizona Diamondbacks turned to rookie left-hander Patrick Corbin to try and turn things around for the team as they opened a weekend series against the San Francisco Giants. It was just what the doctor ordered and Corbin was stellar in his Chase Field debut and Paul Golschmidt had three hits, including a two-run homer, as the D-backs took the opener of the series 5-1 Friday night.

The Giants scored first. Melky Cabrera hit a two-out solo shot in the bottom of the first. However, after allowing a single in the second inning, Patrick Corbin set down the next 12 batters he faced. He allowed just the one run in seven innings, gave up three hits and threw 91 pitches. He struck out four and didn't walk anyone.

The Diamondbacks got the run back in the third inning, thanks to a Brandon Crawford error, a double by A.J. Pollock and a single by Willie Bloomquist. They were unable to do further damage and left the bases loaded.

The D-backs finally got something going in the fifth inning. Willie Bloomquist doubles to lead off the inning, and with two outs, Miguel Montero doubled and Paul Goldschmidt homered. It was Goldschmidt's first homer since his first at-bat of the season against Tim Lincecum and the Giants. That gave Arizona a 4-1 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, A.J. Pollock added to the fun, hitting his first career homer to make the score 5-1.

Brian Shaw pitched a scoreless eighth inning and David Hernandez pitched the ninth.

Giants starter Madison Bumgarner allowed five runs (four earned) and seven hits in six innings. He took the loss to fall to 5-2 on the year. Corbin is 2-1 with the win.

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Diamondbacks Vs. Giants: Starting Lineups, Daniel Hudson Throws To Hitters, J.J. Putz Will Stay The Closer

After a day off on Thursday and being swept in three games by the St. Louis Cardinals, the Arizona Diamondbacks try to regroup and start a three-game weekend series against the San Francisco Giants. In Kirk Gibson's pregame press conference, he talked about the progress of starter Daniel Hudson and the recent struggles of closer J.J. Putz.

Hudson threw to live hitters -- about 30 pitches -- on Friday. He felt good, but his command was not what he wished it had been. That, though, is understandable when you go on the shelf as he did.

The subject of closer J.J. Putz and his recent struggles were brought up. One reporter asked if Gibby had considered removing him from the closer's role temporarily to get things ironed out. His answer? "No, I have not."

He is going to continue to close games for the foreseeable future.

As for the problem, it isn't his velocity and by all indications there is no injury. "Pretty much he's missing his location," explained Gibson. If you have to read anything into what he said and what he might think is the problem, it might be this. Gibson pointed out that Putz started off the spring working on a cutter. "He's not throwing that much anymore," he told the media. based on the fact that he offered up that information on his own, it would seem that he thinks that could be the culprit.

Here Friday's starting lineups:

San Francisco:

1. Angel Pagan, CF
2. Joaquin Arias, 3B
3. Melky Cabrera, RF
4. Buster Posey, 1B
5. Brett Pill, LF
6. Hector Sanchez, C
7. Emmanuel Burriss, 2B
8. Brandon Crawford, SS
9. Madison Bumgarner, P

Arizona:

1. Willie Bloomquist, SS
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Justin Upton, RF
4. Miguel Montero, C
5. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
6. Ryan Roberts, 3B
7. Gerardo Parra, CF
8. A.J. Pollock, LF
9. Patrick Corbin, P

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