Arizona Diamondbacks 1, Cincinnati Reds 2

The Diamondbacks will be glad to have the next four days off from competitive games, as their offense in particular could do with a break. An almost impressive inability to get the big hit they needed, and perhaps a curious reluctance by Torey Lovullo to use any challenges, proved decisive here, as the D-backs dropped the rubber game to lose back-to-back series for the first time since May 2-7.

Cincinnati got on the board first, an RBI single from Joey Votto givingt them the lead in the third. But Arizona immediately struck back, A.J. Pollock hitting his first homer since coming back off the DL - it might have been a two-run shot had an arguable out call of Patrick Corbin, immediately before, been challenged and found wanting. The Reds then took the lead again in the sixth, on an RBI double past a stumbling David Peralta: you wonder if the poor turf quality played a part?

Corbin lasted six innings, and looked pretty good, allowing two runs on seven hits and two walks, with nine strikeouts. But the Diamondbacks wasted any number of chances to get back into this. None more so than the sixth, where they put the first two on, and Chris Owings singled. Paul Goldschmidt was thrown out at the plate, though again, you could make a case the catcher didn’t give him a clear path. The chance went begging, and the team limps, rather than charges, into the break.