Diamondbacks return to form in 6-2 victory over Cubs

The Arizona Diamondbacks maintain their 4.5-game lead in the Wild Card with a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs to even the series.

Behind a solid outing from Patrick Corbin, the Arizona Diamondbacks are back in the win column.

After three messy losses clouded by a slow offense and questionable managerial decisions, the Diamondbacks returned to their Wild Card-leading selves.

Patrick Corbin pitched 6.2 innings. Despite pitching into a couple jams, including in the first and fourth innings, Corbin put up goose egg and goose egg.

This version of Corbin hasn’t surfaced in his last few outs, but he returned when the Diamondbacks needed him the most.

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Corbin allowed five hits, walked one batter and struck out eight. Four of those strikeouts were against Kyle Schwarber.

Another sight for sore eyes was manager Torey Lovullo. His decisions to remove Banda after four inning, but leave Walker in after six in the last two games were highly questionable decisions.

Before the game, Lovullo addressed the media about the team’s current rut and his recent decisions.

"“Managers don’t get stupid overnight,” Lovullo told the media before the game, sticking to his missteps."

Tonight, Lovullo stepped in when it seemed appropriate. Corbin had given up a single, but also gotten two outs in the seventh inning. He had thrown 103 pitches when Lovullo called for Archie Bradley.

Corbin did however get the win, as the Diamondbacks were able to give him four runs in support of his stellar start.

The four-run sixth inning started with a single off the bat of Adam Rosales and an intentional walk to Paul Goldschmidt with one out.

Maybe it was the spark the offense needed. Or, maybe the spark was J.D. Martinez’s double to score Rosales.

Ketel Marte then reached on a fielder’s choice and Goldschmidt scored on a throwing error by Javier Baez. But, the real clue that the offense was back was a base-clearing double by Brandon Drury.

The Diamondbacks added a run in the seventh after a leadoff double by David Peralta, who took third on a wild pitch and scored on a single off the bat of A.J. Pollock.

Peralta would provide the Diamondbacks with another run in the eighth. An inside-the-park home run on a fly ball to left-center field which rolled away from the Cubs’ outfielders.

If this game had an MVP-ball, Peralta would be a frontrunner, behind Corbin that is. Another serious contender would be Archie Bradley.

Bradley relieved Corbin in the seventh inning and pitched the eighth inning. Bradley faced six batters across the 1.1 innings, walking one and striking out another. Bradley has now pitched eight scoreless innings in as many games since July 21.

Fernando Rodney did not have the same success tonight. After getting two quick outs in the ninth, Rodney gave up two runs and allowed two more baserunners before Lovullo replaced him with David Hernandez.

Hernandez threw a five-pitch strikeout and earned the save.

The Diamondbacks will look to Zack Godley to take the series win tomorrow.

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