Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Justin Upton (10) makes a running catch in the eighth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. Image: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE

Record Notes: This series marked the third consecutive road series loss including a four game skid before Thursday’s victory. It was the team’s first win at Turner Field in their last six tries and they are now just 2-7 in their last nine games there dating back to 2010.

*It was the eighteenth time the team has been held to one or fewer runs on the year and seventh time in June alone.

GOOD: Bullpen. The bullpen has been sensational as of late and came through in a big way again this series. Granted, they only factored into one decision but with none of the starters pitching more than five innings, the relievers amassed a season high 14 1/3 innings over the three game set. It was the third straight series the bullpen worked at least 10 innings collectively. Still, they have allowed just three earned runs in their last 25 innings earning three wins and two saves over that stretch. Patrick Corbin made his first appearance since May 21st after being recalled on Monday and was lights out throwing three shutout innings while allowing just one hit.

*Josh Collmenter is really in a groove in his relief role and powered through another four innings of shutout ball on Monday after Daniel Hudson left with an injury. Hopefully that confidence will continue with him as he has been granted a start on Sunday against the Brewers. I am hoping this is a matter of the matchup more than anything as Collmenter has been lights out against the Brewers in his career allowing zero earned runs in 14 innings. With his outing against the Braves, the second year right hander now has an ERA of .63 in June and is averaging just over a strikeout an inning.

*When Justin Upton was benched on June 5-6 to let him regain some composure he called the move ‘unproductive.’ Well, it looks like the 24 year old has sure used those two days off to fuel some of his own production on the field. Upton was 5 for 10 against the Braves with two multi-hit games. Since the benching 18 games ago, Upton has 10 extra base hit efforts batting .377 with 12 runs and 13 RBI’s. He has raised his average to a season high .280. The one blip in his numbers for June has to be his base running. He has now been caught stealing four times in June alone while stealing just one base. In the Braves series he stole a base Tuesday and was caught stealing Wednesday.

BAD: Starting Pitching. None of the starters were able to work beyond five innings and in the first two contests, the Braves had a homerun by their leadoff man-Michael Bourn- and then Jason Heyward- their number two batter- to jump out to quick leads. In all they allowed 11 earned runs off three homeruns working just 10.2 innings between the three guys. Granted, Hudson left in the second with an injury, but not before the Braves were able to throw up five runs.

*Daniel Hudson wasn’t himself as he came off the DL at the end of May but until he signaled for Nagy and a trainer to make their way to the mound none of us knew the extent of the issue. You could read Hudson’s lips as he said, “my elbow is f**king done” and with that his 2012 campaign was finished and likely all of 2013 as well. He is to get a second opinion but the first MRI showed a 100% tear of his UCL- a ligament in his elbow that requires Tommy John surgery. It is a huge blow to the Diamondbacks as well as the 25 year old who won 16 games for the team in 2011 and is 23-13 since being acquired from the White Sox during the 2010 season.  Let’s hope he has a speedy recovery and we’re able to see Hudson back on the hill for the Dbacks in the future. Let’s also be happy that Kevin Towers wasn’t able to ship out Joe Saunders just yet as we may need him for the long haul now.

*RISP. Sometimes too much may be read into this statistic- just ask the Yankees who are second to last in average with runners in scoring position but have the fourth most runs in the A.L. Either way, the Dbacks were just 2 for 20 in the Braves series and left nine runners in scoring position with two outs. On Tuesday they went through a three-inning period where they left a runner on third base each inning without plating a run.

*Ryan Roberts was just 1 for 8 in the series- albeit a three run homerun- but is just 5 for his last 29 (.172). He also hasn’t walked in 13 games. One encouraging sign is that he has only struck out twice in his 29 at bats leading one to believe that it is just a matter of time before his balls begin to fall for base hits. Let’s hope anyway.

UGLY: *Trevor Cahill struggled through his second straight start allowing six runs- four earned- in just five innings of work. The homerun he allowed to Jason Heyward- the second batter of the game- snapped a 20 inning scoreless streak on the road for Cahill. He was good until the fifth when it began to unravel as he walked three hitters and made a throwing error while trying to turn two. He has now allowed ten earned runs in his last eleven innings and the loss Tuesday snapped a four game winning streak, dropping him to 6-6 on the year.

NOTES: Jason Kubel collected his league leading tenth outfield assist on Monday throwing out Chipper Jones at third base.

*Stephen Drew was activated from the DL Tuesday after eleven months of rehab and in his second at bat of the season he recorded a ‘hustle double’ -ruled a single with error- that was encouraging to see as he never hesitated rounding first and diving into second. Drew will most likely play around four games a week for the time being as he has said he still doesn’t feel like he is 100%.

*The highly touted Trevor Bauer made his major league debut on Thursday and last four innings while allowing two earned runs on five scattered hits. He was pulled after 74 pitches as his pitch count was climbing with three walks and a hit batsmen. He also had thrown 50 pitches on Sunday with the Reno Aces before being pulled to prepare for Thursday’s start. He struck out three batters including the first batter he ever faced. See his pregame workout and the strikeout here.

*Chris Young mashed not one but two homeruns in the Braves series to end his Homerun Watch at 29 games including the go-ahead solo shot off closer Craig Kimbrel yesterday.  I will start a Homerun Watch for Willie Bloomquist who hasn’t homered all season- a span of 231 at bats and 57 games. Let’s hope that is the turning point for CY moving forward and we can expect some production from center field again.

*The team flies to Milwaukee to take on the 34-41 Brewers beginning tonight with Ian Kennedy taking on Randy Wolf.

Now bring on the Brewers!!

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Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Ryan Roberts (14) hits during the first inning. Image: Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

GOOD: Team Offense. There is a trend beginning to form with this offense. Get shutdown in the opening game of a series, put on a hit parade the next two. For the fourth time in the last five series the Dbacks were held to just one run in the opener and then went on to score 5, 9, 7, 11, 8 and 4 runs in the remaining games of each series. They are 5-1 in those six games.

*The team has also been cutting down on their strikeouts recently and have dropped to sixth in the N.L. after leading the majors in strikeouts just four weeks ago. They’ve collected the fourth most walks in the N.L. as well and are now fourth in on base percentage as well. Let’s hope this offense is here to stay, especially with the starting pitching still struggling to put up consistent numbers.

*Jason Kubel. The left fielder has been a great addition to the team so far and Kubel was excellent again this weekend. The streaky hitter was coming off a 3 for 20 dip but finished the series 6 for 10 with 3 runs scored, 3 RBI’s, and 3 walks. He gave the Dbacks their only run on Friday with a solo shot and then provided a clutch two out single yesterday to tie the game at three apiece.  

*Aaron Hill. It’s nice to see the second baseman in the middle of a hot stretch. He finished the series 6 for 10 with 2 runs, a pair of doubles and a stolen base. He is 10 for his last 18 and has three multi-hit efforts in his last four games.

*Henry Blanco. Blanco was thrust into the starter role when Montero went down on Monday with a groin injury and has done very well filling in. Since Tuesday, Blanco has gone 5 for 14 including the eventual game winning RBI single in yesterday’s finale against the Brewers. His defense has been excellent as well, throwing out all three of the runners attempting a stolen base.

*David Hernandez. The setup guy has been excellent all season and continued the dominance yesterday in a shutout inning. On the season opposing hitters are batting just .188 and he’s averaging a career best 13.29 K’s/9 inning. He’s one of three relievers in baseball to have not allowed a run at home yet, going 12 1/3 innings with 18 strikeouts.

BAD: Starting Pitchers. Over their 16 2/3 innings of work over the weekend, they allowed eleven runs- nine earned, while walking five and allowing two homeruns. Kennedy was particularly bad struggling through 5 2/3 innings on the way to his fifth straight loss. He recorded his fourth balk on the year and gave up two homeruns. Wade Miley didn’t fare much better on the hill but was backed with eight runs and recorded his sixth win on the year. He also extended his hitting streak to seven games and is hitting a ridiculous .444 on the year.

*RISP. The team finished 9 for 34 (.264) with runners in scoring position this weekend and couldn’t convert on three different occasions on Friday night- including a bases loaded opportunity for Roberts where he grounded into an inning ending double play. They hit into four double plays on the evening and finished 0 for 6 with RISP. Plus side is that they had four 2-out RBI’s on Sunday and showed they could still come from behind in games.

*Craig Breslow. The lefty has now given up a run in each of his last three appearances- one of which he failed to record an out. On Friday he hit the first batter he faced, walked a batter and gave up a single to load the bases with nobody out. Fortunately he worked his way out of the mess with only one run allowed on a sacrifice fly. Hopefully his recent struggles are just a matter of location and not an injury or a sign of things to come. He had gone 10 consecutive innings without allowing a run prior to his recent hiccup.

UGLY: Mike Zagurski. This roly poly lefty has been inconsistent all season, mostly struggling with his location. On Sunday he fell behind all five of the hitters he faced with a first pitch ball and walked three hitters. He retired just one Brewer, the first he faced, and was removed with the bases loaded after allowing one run. Luckily for the Dbacks, Bryan Shaw induced a first pitch ground ball to Nyjer Morgan that turned into a 6-2-3 double play with some help from Morgan turning around towards home on his way to first trying to see if the runner scored. It was the turning point in the game without a doubt as the Diamondbacks scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Zagurski now sports a 5.56 ERA on the year and patience has to be running thin for Charles Nagy.

*Base running. The Diamondbacks like to run. That’s great and for a team that struggles to plate runs on a consistent basis, it should be encouraged. But their efficiency has been terrible lately. They were picked off at first twice yesterday by Randy Wolf and once on Saturday. Their stolen base efficiency dropped to just 67% after this weekend, 11^th in the National League. So while they sit in 3^rd place in the N.L. in steals, they are also tops in the league in the ‘caught stealing’ category. Willie Bloomquist has had the worst luck being caught six times now in ten attempts.

NOTES: Upton finished 0 for 4 Sunday snapping a nine game hit streak and 17 game stretch of reaching base safely.

*Miguel Montero inked the largest contract in Diamondbacks history this weekend keeping him in Arizona for the next five years and worth $60 million. Coincidentally, the catcher missed the entire series against the Brewers with a groin strain and hasn’t played since injuring himself on Monday against the Dodgers. He is in the starting lineup today though so that is encouraging.

*The bullpen struggled at times the last two series but did get the starting pitchers out of two bases loaded jams this weekend without allowing a run. Brad Ziegler did it on Friday to save Kennedy from an even worse outing, and Shaw did it Sunday with a one pitch double play to end the inning.  

*Today starts a nine game stretch against the N.L. West for the Dbacks with Trevor Cahill starting against Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants.

Now bring on the Giants!!

Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Daniel Hudson delivers a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates before going on the 15-day disabled list. Hudson started Sunday against the Brewers and threw five solid innings in his return. (Image: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE)

Hudson was on the disabled list after suffering an impingement on his right shoulder.  Prior to his DL stint, Hudson was 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA after just three starts on the young season.  Hudson replaced young pitching prospect Patrick Corbin, who was sensational at times, and at other times not so good.  Corbin was 2-3 with a 5.27 ERA in five starts in Hudson’s absence.  For Corbin it was valuable time with the parent club while it will serve him as learning experience for the next time he is called up.

Hudson’s return for the Diamondbacks is a welcome return to a struggling starting rotation.  Wade Miley and Trevor Cahill have been spectacular, while Joe Saunders and Ian Kennedy  are struggling, so Hudson could breathe new life and confidence into his teammates.

His effect was apparent during his first start back against the Brewers and although he didn’t figure in the decision and only lasted five innings, he was able to keep the D-backs within striking distance.  He only allowed one walk and struck out three while only allowing two runs.

The heroes of the game for the Diamondbacks were Paul Goldschmidt, Jason Kubel, Ryan Roberts, and Henry Blanco whom all had an RBI apiece.  Goldschmidt’s came on a moon shot of a home run off the batter’s eye in center field officially measured at 471 feet.  Kubel tied the game with his RBI and then Blanco hit in the go ahead run and the bullpen held up.

J.J. Putz pitched the ninth for his 11th save of the season while Bryan Shaw got the final two outs of the sixth inning for the win.  Brewers starter Randy Wolf threw well enough for the win, but ended up getting a no decision after errors cost the Brewers the lead and eventually the game.  Former D-back Cody Ransom went one for two against his former club with an RBI, two walks, and a run scored.

The Diamondbacks open a three-game series against division-rival San Francisco Monday at AT&T Park with Trevor Cahill going against Barry Zito.  If the Diamondbacks are going to make up ground, they are going to have to continue getting decent pitching from their starters and getting offensive support from everyone.  Winning is contagious and hopefully everyone in the Diamondbacks clubhouse has is infected with winning after this series.

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