The Diamondbacks snapped a negative trend Friday night. Arizona left-hander Robbie Ray will aim to stop his personal skid Saturday.
Arizona ended an eight-game losing streak to the Colorado Rockies with an 8-0 win Friday in the opener of a three-game series in Phoenix. Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke threw seven scoreless innings, and first baseman Christian Walker hit two home runs and drove in a career-high five runs.
“It was a big win. After eight consecutive losses to this team, it’s nice to turn the tide a little bit,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “This is a smart, tough baseball team. I watched that play out today.
I’m really proud of those guys. We did a super job of execution. I thought it was a really complete game.”
Now, it will be up to Ray to navigate the four All-Stars at the top of the Colorado lineup when the teams meet Saturday night.
That matchup trend isn’t in Ray’s favor.
In his career against outfielder Charlie Blackmon, shortstop Trevor Story and third baseman Nolan Arenado, Ray has allowed a .388 batting average and 10 home runs in 103 at-bats. He has a much smaller sample size against the other All-Star, outfielder David Dahl, who is 1-for-8 against Ray.
Ray (5-6) has been struggling for more than a month.
The 27-year-old Tennessee native has only one victory in his past seven starts, during which time his ERA has climbed from 3.26 to 4.10. He is coming off his shortest outing of the season in terms of pitches — 83 in four innings — as he gave up four runs in a 10-4 road loss to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.
“This was a bit of a head-scratcher,” Ray said. “I felt like I made some pretty good pitches, and they hit them.”
His strikeout rate remains elite — 129 in 98 2/3 innings — but he has allowed nine home runs in the past six starts. Blackmon has five home runs and is hitting .452 in 42 career at-bats against Ray, who is 4-5 with a 5.49 ERA in 15 starts against the Rockies.
Colorado has lost four consecutive games, allowing 31 runs in that span. The Rockies have given up at least eight runs in five of their past seven games as they have fallen to one game above .500.
“For us to get to where we want to be in the second half, we have to pitch better,” Rockies manager Bud Black said, according to the Denver Post. “And I have said that multiple times.”
Colorado has a good chance at a solid pitching performance Saturday as it turns to Jon Gray (9-5, 3.84 ERA), who is 6-1 in his past eight starts.
Gray is 1-0 with a 2.38 ERA in two starts against Arizona this season, including a win at Chase Field on June 19, when he allowed two runs (one earned) and six hits in six innings. The right-hander has made nine career starts vs. the Diamondbacks, going 3-3 with a 4.71 ERA.
The Diamondbacks are without outfielder David Peralta, who was placed on the 10-day injured list Friday due to right shoulder inflammation. Peralta, a middle-of-the-order bat who is hitting .289 with 24 doubles and nine home runs in 73 games, also was on the IL from May 24-June 2 because of the same ailment.