DENVER (AP) — Ketel Marte and Brandon Drury homered in a three-run sixth to bolster a strong outing by Zack Godley and the Arizona Diamondbacks extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 5-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.
This is the Diamondbacks’ longest winning streak since they captured a franchise-best 12 straight in 2003.
Godley (7-7) allowed three hits, walked six and struck out seven over six innings to help Arizona sweep a three-game series from the Rockies. The Diamondbacks increased their lead over Colorado for the top NL wild-card spot to 6 1/2 games. The slumping Rockies saw their lead over Milwaukee for the second wild card trimmed to just a half-game.
Tied at 1 in the sixth, Marte lined a slider from German Marquez (10-6) over the fence in left for his first homer since July 29. Drury later followed with a two-run shot off Marquez, who allowed four runs over six innings and struck out nine.
Both teams rolled out unconventional lineups.
The Rockies didn’t start third baseman Nolan Arenado, first baseman Mark Reynolds and outfielder Ian Desmond. They also switched around the batting order, with usual leadoff hitter Charlie Blackmon dropping to the No. 3 spot. Blackmon had a tying single in the fifth.
Arizona gave NL MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt the day off, along with outfielders A.J. Pollock and J.D. Martinez.
The Rockies had something brewing in the eighth after back-to-back singles. But reliever Jimmie Sherfy struck out three straight to quell the threat.
The Diamondbacks were held scoreless in the first inning. That’s significant because it snapped a streak of leading after 52 consecutive innings dating to the third inning on Aug. 27 against the Giants. It was the third longest-streak since 1920, according to information provided by Arizona from STATS. Baltimore has the record of 55 innings set in 1983.
Colorado fell to 1-5 on its nine-game homestand.
THIS & THAT
Arizona C Chris Iannetta homered in the eighth. ... Rockies 2B DJ LeMahieu batted leadoff and extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the fifth.
GOOD AS GOLDY
No surprise, Goldschmidt isn’t a big fan of watching and typically tries to talk his way into the lineup.
“He doesn’t want to take days off because he feels like he can get in there and make an impact,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “That’s what makes him Paul Goldschmidt.”
Goldschmidt is batting .314 with 33 homers and 109 RBIs this season. Those numbers at this point of the season are at or ahead of what he posted in ’15 (.319, 27, 97), and ’13 (.293, 31, 104) when he was the NL MVP runner-up.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: LHP Robbie Ray (11-5, 2.97 ERA) starts Monday as the Diamondbacks open a three-game series in Los Angeles. Ray is 6-1 in 11 road starts this season.
Rockies: RHP Chad Bettis (0-2, 4.88) takes the mound Monday to begin a three-game series against San Francisco. Bettis is looking for his first win since returning from testicular cancer.
