Diamondbacks look to close wild-card gap against Reds

The Arizona Diamondbacks, with their wild-card run gaining a sense of urgency, will complete their Jekyll-and-Hyde series with the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday in Phoenix.

The Reds hammered out a season-high 16 hits and JJ Bleday hit for the eighth cycle in franchise history in an 11-5 win Saturday after the Diamondbacks limited them to four singles in a 9-0 shutout Friday.

Arizona left-hander Mitch Bratt (1-2, 4.17 ERA) is scheduled to face Reds southpaw Andrew Abbott (6-8, 4.07 ERA) in the rubber game.

The Reds enjoyed the breather. Their previous eight victories had all been by one run, two shy of the major league record for consecutive one-run wins.

"We haven't had a lot of games like that where you can, I don't want to say relax, but we spread it out a little bit," Reds manager Terry Francona said. "That's been tough for us to do."

The Diamondbacks (68-62) will look to rebound from their fourth loss in six games.

With the loss, Arizona fell another game back in the race for a National League wild-card spot. The Chicago Cubs (74-56) were beaten by the Seattle Mariners and hold the first wild-card spot, two games up on the Philadelphia Phillies (72-58). The San Diego Padres (70-60) are two games behind Phillies and sitting in the third wild-card position.

The Phillies and Padres won Saturday to maintain their positions in the standings and the Diamondbacks now trail San Diego by two games.

Rookie Bratt gave up three runs on four hits and three walks in three innings of an 11-1 road loss to the Boston Red Sox on Monday. He has come back down to earth in two starts since making history in a 10-4 victory over San Diego on Aug. 5.

That day, Bratt became the first rookie left-hander to give up only one hit and get the win in seven scoreless innings while using fewer than 100 pitches, according to OptaSTATS. He threw 92.

"Overall, I think he's done a great job of slowing things down, making adjustments pitch-to-pitch, and dialing it in really nicely," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said.

Abbott has pitched around limited support recently. He has recorded five quality starts in his past eight appearances but has lost four of five decisions in that span.

He has three quality starts in which the Reds were shut out, including his most recent appearance, a 3-0 home loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday in which he allowed two runs on four hits in 6 1/3 innings.

"We've got to find a way to score some runs for him," Francona said.

Abbott faced the Diamondbacks earlier this season, giving up one run on a Tommy Troy homer in five innings of a no-decision in a 5-3 loss June 14.

He is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in three career starts against Arizona.

--Field Level Media